Never and Forever
by Magician April Aries
Summary: Sequel to OTNK. Epilogue up! "Match made in heaven," Kaoru snorted, as he settled himself back against Kyouya's arm. And once again, all was well.
1. Prologue: Substitution

A/N: Hello, darling readers! Guess what I've got for you guys? Drumroll please... A NEW MULTICHAPTER OURAN STORY. This is the sequel to OTNK that I've long promised you guys. I've been meaning to write it since forever! I put it off in favor of sorting out my manga collection--and that's a lot harder than it sounds, I swear. This story is for those asking for a TamakixHikaru, with me giving a two-finger salute in particular to Koorimechick, a regular reviewer and someone who requested them. Will these two actually get together though? We'll see.

See, this month is my birthday month, so this is something of a birthday present to myself and to my readers! If I waited until my actual birthday to post it I'd have to deal with the hellish academic load. I have exams on my birthday. Isn't that absolutely horrid? Then if I got reviews I wouldn't be able to read and reply to them.

Anyway. Unbeta'd, and I've been out of practice with prose, so go easy on me! Also, warnings: this fic will probably contain more mature language than OTNK, thanks largely to Hikaru and his potty mouth. This chapter is for someone extra-special. I hope you guys enjoy it. :)

* * *

Prologue: Substitution

They hadn't done it in a long, long time. Too long, in Hikaru's opinion. He wasn't quite sure what the reason was—well, to be fair, there _were _a lot of other things happening, but then again, that had never stopped them before. At first it had disquieted him, but he'd brushed it off. There were bigger things to think of, like chaining Tamaki to the door of the Black Magic club. But today he finally said it.

"Hey Kaoru, let's play the 'Which one is Hikaru' game."

Kaoru looked up from his position beside Kyouya, who had an arm around him (_Get away from my little brother, you man-hungry shark!_). "Huh?"

"I'm bored," Hikaru whined. "And as we all know…"

"A bored Hitachiin is a dangerous Hitachiin," chorused all the Host Club members together from their respective tables. The customers giggled.

"I don't recommend that you play that game anymore, Hikaru," Kyouya said, pushing up his glasses. "I hate to say it, but it's too easy now."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Sure, just because you can tell who's who using the powers you gained from signing a blood contract with the forces of hell…" He was cut off by Kaoru throwing his eraser at him, and it hit him squarely on the nose. "Damn it, Kaoru! Stop shielding that demon spawn already!"

Kyouya shrugged. He was already so used to getting insulted every time Hikaru opened his mouth that he rarely bothered to object anymore. "All right, I won't participate. I didn't intend to in the first place. And for this trial's sake, Haruhi, please don't either. I want Hikaru to see my point clearly." The natural rookie host gave a nod. "Don't say I didn't warn you," Kyouya murmured, gently drawing away from Kaoru and opening his ever-present notebook to scribble something in it.

"Just do it before he decides to set the room on fire or something," Haruhi put in.

"Fine, fine," Kaoru muttered, rolling his eyes and standing up. They moved quickly, becoming two red-headed blurs, before coming to a stop and saying in unison, "Which one is Hikaru?"

There was a brief silence before one girl piped up, "That one's Hikaru-kun, isn't it?"

"Nope! Nice try," they both said, grinning like Cheshire cats. This was their usual trick: whenever someone got it right by chance, they would always say that they had it wrong. But to their surprise, the girl shook her head.

"That's definitely Hikaru-kun. Kaoru-kun's a little bit more slender than he is now."

They stared at her. "Are you saying I'm fat?" Hikaru blurted out.

"Well, he _did _stop eating for a while when he and Kyouya-sempai were all torn up about each other, remember?" Haruhi pointed out. Hikaru frowned. He hated being reminded of how badly he had hurt his brother back in those days.

"Now that you mention it, Kaoru-kun's cheekbones are a little bit more pronounced now," agreed another girl.

"Kao-chan smells different, too," added Hunny, blissfully unaware of the bombshell he was dropping on the fangirls. "He smells like Kyou-chan!"

Kaoru blushed to the roots of his hair. "I don't—we aren't—Hunny-sempai!" He shot them a pleading glance as squeals filled the club room. Kyouya permitted himself a single amused chuckle. Hikaru gaped at them before leaning in and sniffing his brother. Normally he smelled like honey and that lemon body wash that they both liked. But now Kaoru smelled like…

"Peppermint," Hikaru said accusingly.

"Yeah, that's Kyouya-sempai, definitely," Haruhi said, remembering the time at Karuizawa when she'd caught a whiff of that same clean, sharp smell as he'd pinned her to the bed.

"And how would you know about that?" Tamaki asked, all innocence. "He doesn't exactly _emanate _the scent, I think you'd have to get very close to be able to tell."

Haruhi turned as red as Kaoru, suddenly uncomfortably aware of Mori standing right beside her. She had already told him about the incident (thanks to him overhearing a little exchange between Kaoru and Kyouya one day at club…) but it still made her uneasy to talk about it near her boyfriend."Just… nothing. Erm, wow, Hunny-sempai has a really keen nose," she said, changing the subject as best as she could—not good enough, apparently, judging by the barely suppressed delight of the girls who were already whispering about 'an epic new doujinshi!'.

Renge smirked. "And if my fangirl eyes don't betray me… Kaoru-kun has a hickey."

"What the hell?" Hikaru roared as Kaoru clapped a hand to his neck. "That leech was sucking your blood?"

"No, just nibbling on that lovely collarbone," Kyouya deadpanned. Hikaru dived for him, but Kaoru quickly blocked his path as the girls squealed.

"Everyone would have been able to tell anyway even without all that," Tamaki interjected.

"What? Why?" Hikaru demanded.

"The ring," Mori said, causing the girls to dissolve into floods of giggles. It was Kyouya's Christmas present to Kaoru, a fiery opal that caught the light on his left ring finger. Kaoru blushed even harder.

"Don't even try asking me to take it off," he warned Hikaru. "Not even for the game."

"You've… been marking my brother like he's your _territory._ Like you're some kind of dog," said Hikaru, scowling.

"I meant to warn you that nearly everyone can tell the difference between the two of you now," Kyouya replied with a shrug. "I thought you wanted people to be able to distinguish which is which. I didn't think that you would take it this hard."

"The reason I'm taking it hard is because every single reason they can tell us apart is because of you."

"Well, what's done is done. There's nothing you can do about it, so quit your whining, Hikaru," Kaoru said, reclaiming his seat. He peeked at the notes that his boyfriend was making and was amused to see a doodle of an angry chibi Hikaru alongside some statistics. How very uncharacteristic of him. Kyouya noticed him looking and made a slight face as he closed it.

Hikaru scowled. "Look… I accepted that I had to share you with that piranha, but this is going too far. He stole my partner-in-crime!"

Tamaki shrugged. "So find a new one."

It was never good when Tamaki opened his mouth, really. And even worse when it was Hikaru listening. "That's it!" said Hikaru, perking up. "All I need to do is find a new Kaoru!" He stood up and struck a victorious pose as the customers applauded.

Kyouya groaned. "Tamaki… what have you done, you fool?"

* * *

Later that night, Kaoru came knocking at Hikaru's door. "Oi, Hikaru, give me back my math textbook. You didn't return it the last time." He heard a muffled go-away sort of noise, so naturally he pushed the door open and breezed in.

"Wow, writing?" he said, throwing himself onto Hikaru's bed. His twin was sitting at his desk and scribbling feverishly. "What's that? The English essay? Don't tell me you haven't finished yet. It's due tomorrow."

Hikaru raised his head. "We have an English essay?"

Kaoru scowled and threw a pillow at him. "You idiot, it was assigned a week ago! What the hell were you doing?" He crossed the room in two bounds and grabbed the sheaf of papers his brother had been working on so busily. "The search for the next Kaoru? What the hell is this, American Idol?" He shuffled through the pages. "I take it back—winning American Idol would be a thousand times easier than fulfilling all these criteria."

"You're exaggerating. There's no Simon Cowell here. But you know, we should introduce him to Kyouya-sempai sometime. They'd really hit it off."

"Stop picking on him already," Kaoru said, rolling his eyes. "How many conditions are you planning to write?"

"I don't actually _plan _on them. They just write themselves, really. So far we've got about… four hundred and eight."

"This is stupid. You're not losing me, so you don't have to replace me. And I hate to break it to you, but no one's going to be able to fit all these requirements anyway. They're completely unreasonable."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "I just have exacting standards! They're not unreasonable!"

Kaoru snorted. "Oh really… Number 236: must have been my constant companion throughout childhood and worn identical clothing, usually in different colors, especially when we were cross-dressing because our mom forced us to." He bonked him on the head. "I'm the only one who fits that rule anyway! Who the hell else do you think would have the same mom?"

"Erm… well, then we'll take that one off. But the rest are completely sane!"

"Number fourteen: must be able to consume a gallon of maple syrup in thirty seconds. Yeah, that's sane, all right." Kaoru sighed. "I know you like our brand of weirdness, but the whole reason why it's called weirdness is because not everyone else can do it!"

Hikaru deflated. "Okay, okay. I get your point." He pouted. "I spent the best part of the last two hours writing all those!"

"I'm confiscating these," Kaoru said. "And _you_ had better get to work on that essay, or sensei will have your head."

"I hate English," the older twin grumbled. He turned Bambi eyes on Kaoru. "Kaoru, my beloved twin… light of my life…"

"Don't even bother trying that on me. I _invented _those Bambi eyes," Kaoru said with a laugh. "And besides, I already did your last one, and you don't hear _me _asking you to do my math homework, now do you?" He grabbed the algebra textbook at Hikaru's elbow. "Tell you what, do your essay and I'll help you choose my successor. Not that I want you to put anyone in my place, but I guess that's all I can do."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "No one's taking your place, Kaoru. It's just a temporary fill-in until the day you come to your senses and snap out of whatever brainwashing that demon lord subjected you to—_ow! _Damn it, you have seriously become violent because of that bat out of hell!"

"I'm only violent because it seems to be the only thing that'll pound some sense into you," Kaoru replied, setting down the ruler he had grabbed from Hikaru's desk to hit him with. "Look, sempai and I are set for life, and that means that we've already talked about stuff like getting married and having kids. Like it or not, we're together for the long haul, okay?"

"Yeah, I know," grumbled the other Hitachiin. "Stupid brainwashing four-eyed little—_ow!_ Okay, okay! I'm sorry already! Put down the ruler!"

"Maybe that'll teach you not to insult my boyfriend when there are so many choice weapons nearby. Do the stupid essay already, Hikaru," Kaoru said, laughing. "It's late. If you don't get any sleep, people will be able to tell us apart by your eyebags."

"Fine," Hikaru muttered. Then he lit up. "Say, you don't think mom and dad would be up for making Kaoru version 2.0, do you?"

Kaoru paused, then snickered. "After having hellions like us? Don't even go there."

* * *

"Tell me again why we have to consult with… _it _for this," Hikaru said, glaring at his brother.

"First of all, he's not _it,_ and if you don't play nice I'm going to get really, really mad," Kaoru said, glaring right back at him. "And second, it's because he's smarter than you and will probably save us a lot of time instead of you running around causing mayhem for everyone. Actually, the others kind of requested this too, since they really don't want to be caught in the crossfire." Haruhi, Mori and Hunny all nodded in confirmation. They had sent Tamaki off to entertain the girls while they called a meeting in the club room.

"Sorry, Hikaru, but talking to Kyouya-sempai is for your own good anyway," Haruhi said with a shrug. "And besides, after reading your list, we all decided that it was for the welfare of society that sempai be the buffer for whatever you're about to do."

Kyouya gave him a little smile. "This isn't Chinese water-torture, Hikaru. You can take that look off your face." He ignored the muttered comment that sounded like "I'd prefer Chinese water-torture any day" but Kaoru certainly didn't; the next thing they knew Hikaru was holding his foot and groaning.

"Behave," Kaoru said sweetly.

"In any case," Kyouya said, pulling out his notebook, "I did a little study on your situation. It's true that you do need a partner. Unlike most of us, your appeal lies more in interaction… the devil type is distinguished almost purely by his attitude towards others rather than his own personality."

"What's that supposed to mean? I need some kind of crutch to draw in the customers?"

"I'm not a crutch," Kaoru protested.

"No, you're not," Kyouya assured him. "I mean that while Tamaki can emit a 'prince' aura simply by standing still, the devil type needs action to display his rebellious nature. You show off your personality through pranks, words… the easiest way to do this without offending the customers is by pairing you with someone. That was Kaoru."

"Yeah, but then you stole him away," pointed out Hikaru.

"It's not stealing if he comes willingly," the Shadow King replied with a smirk. "Your ratings _have _dropped for the last few months, compared to before he and I became a couple."

"So break up and I'll hold him in my loving arms instead," Hikaru deadpanned. Kaoru stomped on him again, eliciting an even louder howl of pain this time.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Kyouya said, a shadow of irritation showing on his face for the first time in the conversation. "Kaoru presented me with your little… list." He handed the stack of papers back to Hikaru. I eliminated all but the two that we deemed acceptable."

"Two? Out of… hey, I put so much effort into compiling that, and you took only two?"

"Hika-chan, I don't think that anyone would want to be the next Kaoru if 'should look like me, or is willing to have plastic surgery to look like me' is on the list," Hunny piped up.

"Why not? Then at least that person would become hot."

"You should be grateful we even decided to keep any at all," Kaoru said. "The only good thing about your list is that it's so ludicrous, it makes a great humor piece."

"In any case, your list is as follows: firstly, you like to take the lead, but the person is regarded as your partner, not subordinate; and that means that he is _your _companion, not someone else's. And second, this person is in the Host Club." Kyouya gave a little cough. "Actually, by process of elimination, only one person really fits the bill."

"Only one?" Hikaru repeated. "Those are only two conditions! There are seven of us in the Host Club, and then there's Renge…" He turned white. "Actually, never mind Renge."

"Yes. Actually, she _technically _fits the bill, but for the sake of your sanity and ours we decided against her as a possibility." Kyouya leafed through his notebook. "First of all she may be a part-time manager, but her main draw is as a fangirl; her purpose is more to point out things than serve as a real character in the proceedings. And secondly… there is a 98% chance that you would cease to be the devil type and become the 'victim' type. The other two percent accounts for such incidentals as you deciding to kill her, eventually falling in love with her, etcetera."

"Falling in love with her?" Hikaru echoed, going from white to green.

"We all decided that your offspring would likely cause the end of the world, so again, Renge is off the list of possibilities."

"Too bad, though. If you guys walked down the aisle Renge would be the groom; she'd definitely wear the pants in the marriage," Kaoru said with a grin. "And you'd fight over her trying to pair you up with your butler… and the driver… and the gardener…"

"Kaoru…" the older twin warned in a strangled voice.

"Hunny-sempai and Mori-sempai are already partners, of sorts," Kyouya said. "To break up that duo would be counterproductive. Besides, you can't keep up with Hunny-sempai… and if you were with Mori-sempai you wouldn't be a devil type, you'd be the funny man of a comedy duo, with Mori-sempai as the straight man." The others smothered a laugh. "I doubt that you'd want to partner with me—"

"I'd rather have Renge."

"And to have Kaoru as the next Kaoru completely defeats the purpose of your little search. Besides, Kaoru and I are already taken as a set, much like Mori-sempai and Hunny-sempai."

"So Haruhi, then?" Hikaru asked hopefully.

"No," Mori said.

The others looked at him. He simply shrugged.

Kyouya smiled. "Actually, yes, Haruhi _is _off my list. I already foresaw this."

"Huh?" Haruhi said, cocking her head to one side. She still had no idea that Hikaru used to be crazy about her—she was the only one who still didn't know, though. "What are you talking about?"

Hunny patted her head. "We'll explain when you're older, Haru-chan."

"And so, the only one left is, of course, Tamaki."

The blonde looked up from where he was pouring tea for the girls. "What?" he squawked.

"Congratulations, milord," Kaoru said with a laugh. "You're the next Kaoru."

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed it. :) Loved it? Hated it? I don't mind criticism, and I'm happy to get compliments as well. How about making my 18th birthday extra happy and leave lots of reviews? Just kidding guys! More reviews, faster updates though, so if you want Chapter 1 up in a jiffy, click that button!

God, I'm so hyper right now. Oh yes, please vote in the poll on my profile page. I want to know whether you guys want me to start putting in... um, mature scenes for the OTNK-verse. Ahem. I warn you guys, I've never written explicit scenes before. Anyway, please vote! Thanks for reading this far.


	2. Factors Beyond Calculation

A/N: It's freaking hot. It's my birthday, I have a Political Science exam in approximately two hours, and I'm here posting Chapter One. Hugs and kisses to the darlings who reviewed my prologue, most notably ranchan-akari, a recurring reviewer whose comments always make me smile, and Always a Bookworm, whose reaction to the new story alert notice in her inbox was probably as nice as my reaction to getting the review alert in mine, but also all the others. You guys totally rock.

This chapter is for someone special. :)

Btw, just as a side note, I'm getting the crazy urge to write an Ouran/Death Note crossover. Someone please stop me before I actually do!

Laughs are ahead (hopefully; my sense of humor fails me as always). If you guys can find the time, can you tell me which is the funniest exchange you've ever read in any of my stories? What was the one that made you guys go 'Awwww!'? Which scenes did you guys hate? Authors need feedback to improve on their writing skills, so if you guys want better stories in the future, hit that review button and tell me!

Getting too long, so without further ado, Chapter One.

* * *

Chapter One: Factors Beyond Calculation

It was halfway through the fateful club session after 'the new Kaoru' had been appointed, and Haruhi had finally gotten up from her chair to head to Kyouya.

"You know, sempai, you should go over there and stop them," she said, blowing out an exasperated breath that made her bangs flutter.

"Me?" said Kyouya, his lips twitching. "Why don't you, Haruhi, since you seem so concerned?"

She let out a frustrated groan. "Kaoru, talk some sense into him! Tamaki-sempai's two steps away from making you an only child!"

"But it's entertaining," Kaoru complained. He gestured at some of the clients with them, who were ogling the scene as well, giggling. "The girls like it too. You can sit down and join us. Popcorn?"

"Have you been sitting there just watching them these last few minutes?"

"Well… yeah, actually. It's fun."

Kyouya had refused point-blank to allow the older Hitachiin to dye Tamaki's hair orange, bully him into conning anyone out of their week's allowance, or do anything Kaoru-ish at all (Kyouya did, however, state that Tamaki was free to hit Hikaru as much as Kaoru did, but at that _Hikaru _was the one who warned him that retaliation would be swift and brutal). "Tamaki's ratings are fine; _yours _aren't. So just sit with him and try to act as you are, Hikaru," the Shadow King had said. Besides that, Hikaru quickly learned that there was no point in getting Tamaki to say things in unison with him. The sophomore _always _failed. Especially when whatever it was that they were supposed to be saying together happened to be something a little bit risqué; Tamaki would blush and stammer and finally wail that he "HADN'T RAISED HIS SON TO BE LIKE THIS AT ALL!" So finally Hikaru caved.

But Hikaru had a very low sap tolerance to begin with, and as far as he concerned, what little he had was already spent enduring Kaoru and Kyouya's displays of affection. So when it came to club activities and Tamaki was unloading his usual syrupy words on the girls, he couldn't resist adding a little spice to the dialogue. And by the time Haruhi had marched up to the Shadow King to try to convince him to stop the redheaded devil, Tamaki had started to wish that he'd just complied with Hikaru's wishes and dyed his hair and maybe had plastic surgery to become the new Kaoru.

"Dearest princess, you are the only one—"

"Yeah, just like the last thirty 'only ones' he's been spouting this drivel to," Hikaru said, propping his feet up on the table and leaning back in his chair before the girl could reply with the usual, "_Ohhh, _Tamaki-sama!". By now he'd gotten the hang of Tamaki's routines, and his banter was getting funnier and funnier with each new client. The audience certainly seemed to think so; all the other hosts were munching on popcorn and watching along with their customers. A few were actually arguing about which retorts were the best, and others were betting on how much longer it would take before Tamaki cracked and pummeled Hikaru.

Not long, from the looks of the muscle jumping in the host king's jaw.

The ones who had bet on that particular time were disappointed as Tamaki merely shot his newfound partner a dark look before bravely plowing on, trying to ignore the crowd of spectators and the heckler at his side. "Your dewy eyes, your moist lips, you are like a rain goddess—"

"Dry up, milord. Why don't you make it short and just say that she's all wet?"

"I would swim the seven seas for your beauty—"

"Great idea; go jump in the lake."

"His timing is getting _much _better," Renge said approvingly, video camera in hand.

Something snapped in the older boy's purple eyes, but before he could strangle Hikaru, the client stood up with a little sigh. "I'm so sorry, Tamaki-sama. You're as sweet as ever, but this… this just isn't working out. I'll just designate you another day."

Tamaki sighed. "I deeply apologize, my princess… I shall pine the whole time we are separated." He knelt at her feet and kissed her hand. She gave him a little smile, showing that she wasn't completely annoyed, and walked away. It was the fifth customer already who had decided to simply leave, although all of them had been polite enough about it (well, except for the two who'd run away after Hikaru had reduced them to tears with a few well-placed cracks about their waistlines; Kyouya had _nearly _stopped him then, but was restrained by Kaoru and the girls).

"Aw, show's over," Hunny complained, his precious Usa-chan in hand.

Haruhi blinked. "Not you too, sempai!" She peeked at Mori and groaned when she saw that he'd been focused on them too.

"You have to admit that it's quite funny," Kyouya said with a shrug.

"Will it still be funny when the world will have one less redheaded devil to take care of?" Tamaki hissed, grabbing Hikaru by the collar and slamming him against the nearest wall. The girls squealed—the prince had gone into wild mode!

"No murder, Tamaki," the Shadow King said almost lazily, still not bothering to get up from his spot on the couch as Hikaru struggled against the older boy pinning him. Tamaki turned out to be surprisingly strong, but Hikaru chalked it up to adrenaline.

"Okay, okay, it's obvious that this isn't working out," Kaoru said, finally settling down (Tamaki looked close to tearing out his hair—or Hikaru's neck).

"Please, please, get him away already," Tamaki moaned. "He's ruining the spirit of being a host!"

Hikaru shrugged. "Look. I get enough goo from watching my brother make eyes at your creepy best friend, okay? I don't want to throw up every time I'm designated."

Now that Kaoru had gotten serious, it seemed that Kyouya had as well. He got to his feet and pried his best friend's fingers off the redhead. Hikaru almost fell to his knees, massaging his windpipe. "All right. We'll work out a compromise… Tamaki, you can stop grinding your teeth now."

"If the girls still walk away next time, it's either him or me," the other boy threatened.

An amused glint suddenly entered the Shadow King's eyes. "Stop being so melodramatic," Kyouya said. "I assure you, Tamaki, that by the next session, the girls will be after you two _in droves._"

* * *

Striking a deal with a devil is never a good idea, no matter how desperate you are and how harmless he made his proposition sound. Really, Tamaki should have known better by now, but he tended to have poor memory when it came to Kyouya.

It had been great, at first. Tamaki had just sat down with his first customer for the day, and Hikaru was nowhere in sight. "My lady, at long last, I can be alone with you," he breathed, taking her hand. Roses seemed to bloom in his background out of nowhere. "I was so grieved to be away from you, you who are my light, my everything!"

"Oh, Tamaki-sama," she squealed. "You move me to tears!"

"Oh, don't let tears stain those lovely cheeks," he replied, clasping her hand to his cheek. "I am but your humble knight."

"Really now?" The hairs on Tamaki's neck stood up at the sound of that familiar, mischievous voice coming from directly behind them.

"Hikaru," he mumbled, turning around to face his partner. The customer looked up at them in apprehension—not surprising, considering yesterday's debacle. Tamaki shot a panicked look at Kyouya, but the Shadow King just smiled blandly back at him.

"W-why don't you sit down then?" Tamaki offered grudgingly.

But instead of flopping down on a seat with them and interjecting with another sharp-tongued comment, Hikaru continued standing behind Tamaki, one hand idly sliding to the older boy's shoulders, trailing down to his chest. "So here I come in and find the knight professing his love for the princess. And what if that humble white knight gets… _detained_… by a certain dark lord, hmm?" He flashed a smile at the girl, predatory and calculating. "I'm afraid the poor princess may have to wait a little… I'm not sure I'd like to hand over this knight in shining armor to her anytime soon."

"Hi-hi-Hikaru, what on earth are you—ah!" Tamaki flushed as Hikaru leaned in close to his face… close enough to kiss him. Haruhi, who'd already been poised to ask Kyouya to intervene, froze in her tracks and watched them along with everyone else, slack-jawed.

"What's the matter, milord?" purred the Hitachiin, a wicked laugh dancing in his eyes. Tamaki tried to turn away, but the other boy grabbed his chin and forced their gazes to meet. Tamaki had to stare up at him, half-hypnotized. "Cat got your tongue? I'm afraid I can't allow that… your tongue is reserved _exclusively _for me."

"Wow, this is even more entertaining than yesterday," Kaoru snickered. The rest of the girls were watching with hearts in their eyes as Renge let out a high-pitched squeal and whipped out her video camera. "How did you get Hikaru to agree, sempai?"

"Please. This is the equivalent of a prank to him. Just look at that smirk on his face." Kyouya scribbled some notes on the new pair in his notebook. He didn't even flinch when Kaoru wrapped his arms around him and peeked at the top part of the pages. He trusted him enough by now to let him have the occasional glimpse of the sacred notebook. "He's not even a fraction as manipulative as you are, but he has his own sadistic tendencies. He likes seeing Tamaki squirm." He shrugged. "When it comes down to it, we all do."

The host king took a shuddery breath and told himself to focus. Tamaki seemed to think that ignoring Hikaru was the only route to take. Unfortunately, Hikaru didn't like being ignored—and the redhead never made it easy to begin with. "Princess, rest assured that I would never let any foul enemy tear me from your side—ack! Hikaru, hands—hands in weird places! Get _off _me!" A few girls actually collapsed foaming at the mouth as his voice went up nearly an entire octave higher, making Hikaru smirk even more.

"Persuade me," Hikaru said cheekily. "And in case you can't come up with anything, I can think of quite a few ways you can try."

Tamaki's eyes widened, eyes starting to water from the pressure the other boy's hands were now exerting on him, pressed flush against his neck and collarbone. "Ow… Hi—Hikaru…"

The younger boy grinned. "You know, milord… I like it when you cry."

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"The… the moe…" Renge was lit up like a Christmas tree, frantically taping and trying to write plotlines for a new fanfic at the same time.

The younger Hitachiin's brow furrowed. "Did you coach him on this?" Kaoru asked Kyouya suspiciously. "This doesn't sound one hundred percent like Hikaru."

Kyouya chuckled. "What's the matter, Kaoru? Afraid that I'm actually hiding some bad hobbies from you?"

Kaoru grinned. "Oh really… sounds like fun. Count me in if you ever decide to tell me about them." Kyouya just smirked and reached for the redhead, pulling him on his lap.

"Later," he whispered into his ear, and Kaoru couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. Kyouya's smirk widened at the expression he'd just put on his boyfriend's face.

"That was a huge gamble, sempai," Haruhi joined in, stopping over from refilling the teapot for some of her customers, who were busy ogling the spectacle. "I mean sure, most of the clients like it, but what if Tamaki-sempai's girls don't? I mean, he's the prince type…"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow with an elegance that most people would have had to practice in front of the mirror to get right; his came naturally. "I don't gamble, Haruhi. I only deal with certainties."

And from the way the girl had passed out with a creepy smile and a nosebleed, she definitely couldn't argue. Kyouya wasn't the type to say 'I told you so'—he never needed to—but she caught the self-satisfied gleam in his eyes just before the light flashed off his glasses, obscuring his expression. He continued watching the pair as a new customer was ushered in to take the other girl's place. "I foresee a flood of requests for this newfound partnership."

"Besides, Haru-chan, can we _really _still call Tama-chan the prince type?" Hunny asked. "Considering that the girls have seen a lot of his…"He paused, as through looking for the right way to phrase it.

"Stupidity?" the blunt cross-dresser filled in.

"Cruel as ever, Haruhi," Kaoru said with a grin. "And the best part is that you don't even know it."

"It was mostly your fault, Haruhi," Kyouya told her. "Tamaki may have been an idiot since birth, but he only really started showing off his ridiculous nature when you came along. Trying to get your attention and fussing over you in the most childish manner imaginable… honestly."

"Huh?" She cocked her head to one side. "Why would he want to get my attention?"

Even Mori couldn't resist joining in this time as he smiled fondly at his girlfriend. "The best part really _is _that you don't know it, Haruhi."

* * *

"W-w-what the hell was that?" Tamaki spluttered, shivering, as Mori escorted their last customers out. His cheeks were splotched with pink, and his hair was mussed from Hikaru molesting him for the last twenty or so customers. "Kyouya, I demand an explanation!"

Kyouya didn't even look up from where he was tallying up their earnings for the day. He was so efficient and so used to it that he could complete the task in less than half an hour now. "Your ratings were tripled today, Tamaki. Aren't you pleased?"

"Pleased?" Tamaki echoed, going from pink to purple. He grabbed the papers Kyouya had been writing on, earning a glare from his best friend which he ignored even though he knew that it would mean a lot of pain for him later on. No one interrupted the Shadow King in the middle of his work without suffering. "I've just been groped to within half an inch of my life! Mother, how can you let your son be so wicked and wayward?"

"He must take after his father."

Hikaru gave them a mock-salute. "What can I say? I'm no mama's boy." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Hey milord, up for some special 'father-son bonding'?"

It was the last straw. The blonde let out a howl of anguish.

"KKK-YYYYYYYY-OOOOOOOOO-UUUUUUUU-YYYYYYYYYYY-AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The Shadow King finally slammed his hands on the table, making everyone jump. He hated it when Tamaki dragged his name out like that. Especially since the whole campus (and everyone in a sixty-mile radius) had probably heard him. "I don't see what you have to complain about, Tamaki. He's stopped disrupting your routine—if anything, he enhances it. You're more popular than ever. You can hardly say that he's 'ruining the spirit of being a host'."

Tamaki turned glistening eyes at him. "So it doesn't matter to you in the least that your best friend is being molested? I can't believe that you don't care about me!"

"I don't," Kyouya said flatly, setting off a fresh batch of wails and tears. If there was one thing he'd learned from Haruhi, it was that being cruelly honest with Tamaki was sometimes too tempting to resist.

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Lighten up, milord. It's no different from what he did with me and you never heard me whining, did you?"

"Whining… somehow it captures the tone but not his movement. What do you think is the best word for what Tamaki-sempai is doing?" Haruhi whispered to Hunny as the two of them plus Mori watched from the sidelines.

"I think… 'flailing'," Hunny whispered back, giggling into his stuffed bunny.

"B-b-but… okay, so that was wrong too!" Tamaki said, reddening.

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, Tamaki, you were the one who suggested that they use brotherly love as their selling point—and you were quite correct; it was profitable. Then again, you _have _always been acknowledged as the club's resident pervert…"

"What?! I'm not!"

"Remember all the things you tried to do to Haru-chan back in Karuizawa?" Hunny piped up.

"Oh yeah. The blindfold and everything," Hikaru said, grinning.

"Hmph. Like father, like son, Hikaru," said Kaoru.

"You're my twin. You're his son too." The older redhead propped his feet up on the table, ignoring the death-glare the action earned him. "You realize that you're carrying on with our mom over there, yeah?" he asked, jerking his head over at Kyouya.

"Well, if our dad wasn't such an idiot, maybe mom wouldn't have strayed," snorted Kaoru.

"Can't argue with you there."

Tamaki glared at them as they continued bantering, then turned back to Kyouya. "Just change it already! I don't want to have anything to do with this! We're both boys! It's weird and I don't like it!"

There was a moment of silence as the joking hushed before Mori shook his head. "Tamaki. Think before you talk."

The dark-haired sophomore shut his notebook with an ominous slam. "I know you're entitled to your opinions, Tamaki, but I find that there is nothing weird about two people of the same gender being in love."

Comprehension dawned on the other boy's face, all his protests dying on his lips. Kaoru slipped from his position beside Hikaru to stand next to his boyfriend, golden eyes fastened on Tamaki all the while. "Oh… oh no, Kyouya… I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry—"

Kaoru whispered a few words to Kyouya, seemingly placating him. Kyouya just shrugged in response, still annoyed, but he nodded. "Never mind, milord, we know you say stupid stuff all the time without meaning to," Kaoru said with a brittle smile, his look and tone conveying so many things: unhappiness, anger, understanding, and ultimately, absolution. It almost hurt to look at that expression. Now they knew what Hikaru had meant when he'd said that Kaoru could kill a person just with his face. Of course, it was to be expected from someone who had The Bambi Eyes. "We're kind of used to it. And it's not easy to adjust to having a gay best friend anyway."

"I'm… I'm really…"

"And they call me insensitive?" Hikaru wondered out loud.

When fingers callused by making clothes continued to stroke his wrist, the Shadow King finally caved. "In any case, Tamaki, let's pretend this never happened. And I don't see why we have to change anything," Kyouya said, his expression unreadable behind his glasses. "The girls enjoy it, and they would be disappointed if we didn't present it when school resumes after the weekend. Besides, you're not in love. It shouldn't matter. He won't go too far." The _or else _was implied.

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, I won't… much," he said, unable to resist adding a last jab. Both his brother and the Shadow King shot him warning looks, and he held up his hands in surrender. After what had just happened, even he wasn't stupid enough to push them. "Okay, okay."

Suddenly the trademark smirk was back on Kyouya's face. "Well then. I suggest the two of you should practice, right? Let's get this absolutely perfect." He exchanged a glance with Kaoru; they did that infuriating mental conversation thing that they seemed to have down to an art, and suddenly the younger twin's golden eyes were gleaming.

"That's right," he chimed in. "You two will meet over the weekend to rehearse."

"But—"

"I was going to play that new—"

"What was that?" Kyouya asked, tone dripping icicles.

"Nothing," muttered the other two.

Kaoru clapped his hands gleefully. "Aren't you glad? Just like you said, Hikaru—some special 'father and son' bonding!"

* * *

"Oh, milord. Why don't you come in? Don't just stand there gawping like an idiot." It was already noon, but Hikaru was still lounging in bed wearing nothing but boxers, a sight that had made Tamaki screech something about innocence and chastity and "MY EYES ARE BURNING, HIKARU, BURNING!" Hikaru had ignored him, yanked him inside, and hadn't bothered to throw anything else on. The maids had shown Tamaki up to his room, and Tamaki was beginning to wish he'd insisted that they just leave him in the living room. Then again, Kyouya and Kaoru were down there, doing some 'tutoring' (though Tamaki had no idea when tutoring had begun involving so much hand-holding and things which made Kaoru gasp in ways that made Kyouya laugh like that).

"Hikaru, aren't you scared?" Tamaki blurted out.

The redhead stretched, cat-like, still drowsy. They'd always said that there was something distinctly feline about the Hitachiin twins: finicky, temperamental, and graceful. "Of what?"

"Kyouya and Kaoru were a little too… weird," the Host King elaborated, keeping eyes screwed firmly upward instead of gawking at the other boy's chest. It made Hikaru smirk; as though they weren't both boys? "I mean, at the end of yesterday's meeting."

Hikaru shrugged. "Obviously plotting something. And your monster of a best friend was the one who came up with whatever it is that they're going to do. But I don't see why that would involve me—you're the one who insulted them like that."

Tamaki shot him a wounded look. "I didn't mean it that way! Anyway, you always complain about the two of them, and no one ever says anything!"

"Please. I'm the older brother character trying to save his pure, adorable little twin from being corrupted from a demon. I'm the _hero. _I'm not against him being gay, just being with… _that."_ His eyes narrowed briefly before he looked back at Tamaki. "And you, on the other hand, are just the big-mouthed airhead who made the wrong comment at the wrong time. Way different."

"I didn't mean to," Tamaki said, pouting. "I don't mean it like that…"

Hikaru considered teasing Tamaki some more, but decided that his room wasn't equipped to deal with the waterworks that would inevitably ensue. "Yeah, yeah, Kaoru had a point when he said we all know how stupid you can be, so don't worry about it too much."

"But still…" Tamaki said.

Hikaru snorted, grabbing his controllers and flopping down on his carpet to play his latest blood-and-guts game. Blowing up bad guys was way more important than listening to Tamaki. "Tell me why I should be worried. It's just you, anyway."

"Because they suddenly brought up _us _practicing this weekend," the blonde pointed out. "If it was just me, they would have done something else."

Hikaru pondered that for a moment as he gunned down an enemy onscreen. "You might have a something there," he acknowledged. "So whatever they're thinking up has got _me _in mind too. I don't know why though. I haven't done anything that would piss them off."

"You made two girls cry in the club, Hikaru."

"All I did was gently recommend that they diet…"

The blonde sat down on his bed, looking as though he was afraid that the over-stuffed mattress would bite him. "Hikaru, I wouldn't call what you said to them gentle."

Hikaru snorted. "Fat people are fat."

"You told her, 'Hey porky, spandex is a privilege, not a right'!"

"And I'm one hundred percent correct about that." Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Okay, so maybe I was a little too honest, but that doesn't exactly warrant—"

"Well, there was that time when you tried to kill Kyouya last Tuesday—"

"Hey, that was an accident!"

Tamaki raised an eyebrow. "Five flowerpots dropping where he was standing? How far do you think the dumb blonde stereotype goes?"

Hikaru swore under his breath. "Okay, fine, but Kaoru already beat me senseless for that one. And it's not like his bodyguards didn't throw him clear."

"What about when you leaked all that ink on his club costume on Friday?"

"Well, he already charged me for that… and Kaoru managed to fix it, damn it. He's already an expert on fabrics and design." Kaoru had already far outstripped him in his knowledge of fashion, and it grated on him a little.

"And you _did _superglue his notebook to the table two days ago. Kyouya was really angry about that."

Hikaru's character got a bullet in the side when he turned his head to glare at Tamaki. "That wasn't me!"

"Kyouya did a DNA scan on it."

"Well, maybe it was Kaoru. We do have the same DNA."

Tamaki gave him a look that even Haruhi would have been proud of.

"Okay, fine, it wasn't Kaoru, then." Hikaru groaned, finally hitting the pause button. If what Tamaki said was right, he was better off strategizing in the real world than the 2D one. "So you're saying they're after the both of us."

The older boy nodded, frowning, then lit up. "That's it! They think that I'm going to kick up a fuss and we'll both make each other completely miserable!"

He pondered on it. Kaoru knew him better than anyone, and he also knew that one of the few people who could well and truly get on his nerves was Tamaki. The fact that the sophomore didn't even mean to just made things worse. "Simple… but believable. They were probably too busy flirting to come up with something better anyway." Hikaru scowled at the thought.

"So what do you think we should do?"

A grin unfurled on the other boy's mouth. "Why not let them think it backfired, hmm?"

"Backfired?"

"Yes… and in the most amusing way possible."

* * *

"Hunny-sempai… please pinch me. OW!"

The blonde look up at her repentantly. "Sorry, Haru-chan. You asked."

"I just forgot how strong you were, that's all," she mumbled, rubbing at the sting on her arm. Mori gently stroked it with his thumb. "I had to make sure that I wasn't dreaming."

"You're not," Hunny said, shaking his head.

"Well, that's what a dream would say, now wouldn't it?"

Kaoru rolled his eyes at their conversation. "It's real, Haruhi. If Hunny-sempai's pinch wasn't enough, I can always bop you on the head."

"…I'm starting to think that Hikaru's right and you're secretly a sadist."

Kaoru grinned. "What do you mean 'secretly'?"

Tamaki was sitting on Hikaru's lap.

Hikaru was running a hand along Tamaki's spine, making the blonde shiver. Tamaki was still talking to the girls, but every once in a while he would turn his eyes to Hikaru and blush, and stammer and… well, he acted like one of Mori's customers when they were making a confession to the stoic senior. But Hikaru was no Mori, and his smirk grew wider and wider and his comments even more daring as the day went on. They got so bad that Mori even covered Hunny's ears after some point.

"I'm sorry, but what happened over the weekend?" Haruhi demanded. "I thought Tamaki-sempai was on the 'oh-no-this-isn't-happening' train of thought."

Mori just looked at Kaoru, who shrugged, all innocence. "Seriously, nothing. No tricks, I swear. This time it isn't one of mine, or sempai's. They're doing this on their own. They spent the whole Saturday and Sunday together holed up in Hikaru's room."

"And you don't know what they were up to?" Haruhi frowned. "For all you knew Hikaru was using Tamaki-sempai as a human dartboard the whole time!"

Kaoru shrugged again. "Look, Haruhi. I respect my brother's boundaries and he respects mi—hey, last time I checked he barged in on me and sempai all the time." He scowled before Hunny cleared his throat, shaking him out of his annoyed thoughts. "Well, anyway, sempai and I were a little preoccupied at the time, so I didn't really check. I figured they were just killing each other anyway, no big deal."

"Preoccupied how?" Haruhi asked.

They paused.

"Ne, Kyou-chan, you're the mom, right? So you should tell your daughter all about the birds and the bees before it's too late," Hunny piped up. "She's at that age already." Kyouya chuckled before continuing to scribble furiously in his notebook.

"Better yet, get Mori-sempai to give you a demo, Haruhi," Kaoru whispered in her ear, causing her to redden.

"I already know all about sex!" she yelped, causing heads to turn in their direction.

"Wow, Haruhi, so young and already an expert… now that's what we call a precocious child," the redhead said slyly, laughing at the look on her face.

"Looks like they're falling for it," Tamaki whispered to Hikaru. "Er… Hikaru, don't touch me there."

"Still not used to it?" the younger boy whispered back. To everyone else it looked like they were murmuring words of endearment to each other. "Jeez. Think of it like undergoing a medical exam. It's just your body."

"My body is _chaste_, Hikaru," hissed the host king.

"Yeah, yeah, you do know that none of us buy that whole innocent act, right? We all know you're a pervert." Hikaru rolled his eyes. He really didn't get all that fuss about 'saving yourself for the right person' or whatever. A body was a body. His just happened to be better than most.

It wasn't until the end of club activities that Kyouya spoke up. "Tamaki, Hikaru…" he cleared his throat. "Well done." There was an odd inflection in his words, however, that made the two sit up and pay attention; you could only hear it if you listened closely and knew Kyouya well. "Just don't get overly carried away, all right?"

"Sorry but… it's a little late for that," Hikaru said with a cocky grin.

Haruhi's brow furrowed. "What?"

Blushing, Tamaki allowed lithe arms to wrap around his neck. "We've already gotten carried away."

Hunny gasped. "You mean the two of you are together? Really, Tama-chan?"

Tamaki nodded. "It just happened," he said, smiling. Inside he wanted to laugh, and he quickly turned to look at the expression on Kyouya's face. To his disappointment, the light was glinting off his glasses, making it impossible to tell what the Shadow King was thinking. Kaoru didn't have anything to hide behind, so at least the new pair could tell that he was biting something back, as though there was something he wanted to say or do but was barely controlling himself. Hikaru smirked. Obviously his brother was totally shocked.

"I don't believe it," Haruhi said flatly. "No way. Nice try, Hikaru. How did you con Tamaki-sempai into going along with this?"

"I'm so hurt, Haruhi. You'd actually dismiss our feelings like this," Hikaru said, clasping a hand to his heart.

"Given past experience, always doubt what Hikaru says," she said. "You're a consummate liar."

He grabbed Tamaki and spun him around. "You want proof?"

And the French boy's eyes widened as Hikaru placed his lips firmly on his. _Oh God oh God what the hell is Hikaru doing?_ He was dimly aware of a hand sliding through his hair and his eyelids closing somehow, but other than that he didn't remember much.

The others watched in silence for a while, stunned, before Kaoru remarked, "You guys have to come up for air eventually, Hikaru. Milord looks like he's about to pass out."

The older twin drew back. "Sorry. We're still… you know."

"Adjusting," Haruhi supplied, flushed. She wasn't a fangirl, sure, but it was kind of impossible not to react to two insanely handsome men making out in front of her.

"I'll get better with practice," Hikaru said with a shrug.

"Doesn't look like Tama-chan's complaining, though," Hunny noted. The sophomore was still standing there completely shell-shocked, heat rising in his cheeks.

Hikaru slung an arm around Tamaki's shoulders, smirking. "Of course not. I'm a natural." Then finally he couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. "You should have seen the looks on your faces!"

Haruhi let out a relieved breath. "You idiot. Don't play pranks like that." The others laughed, except Kyouya, whose brow was furrowed slightly.

"No harm, no foul, Haruhi," Hikaru said with a little grin.

The Shadow King sighed. "Only if there really _is _no harm, Hikaru."

* * *

The others were already leaving, laughing and chatting. Kyouya paused at the doorway while waiting for Kaoru to finish putting away his books to call out, "Tamaki, are you leaving yet?" That was when Hikaru noticed that the Host Club king was still frozen in one spot, eyes huge. He was like some overly flashy statue standing in the center of the room.

Kyouya let a moment pass—Tamaki still wasn't moving, answering and by all indications, just barely breathing. He glared at Hikaru. He may have been overly patient (by his standards, anyway) with the older Hitachiin for his boyfriend's sake, but Tamaki was still his best friend.

He would not tolerate anyone (else) messing with his head like that.

"Sorry about that," Kaoru said, still unable to rid himself of the habit of apologizing for whatever Hikaru did wrong. "My brother's an idiot, you know."

"Rectify this," Kyouya ordered before taking Kaoru's hand and leading him out. Haruhi, Hunny and Mori seemed to think that it was only fair that he take the consequences of pulling that prank on them, and so left him alone with the blonde.

"Hello? Milord? Are you still alive?" Hikaru poked him. "I have some great pictures of Haruhi in a naughty librarian outfit…"

"WHAT?! How dare you besmirch my daughter's purity with such—"

"I was lying." They were only Photoshopped, and he had never shown them to anyone, not even Kaoru. "Looks like you're back with the living. I was that good, huh?"

"You—you stole my first kiss!" Tamaki spluttered.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "That was your first? Somehow I thought, you know, being European and all, you'd have way more experience."

The blonde shot him a withering look. "You don't understand! I was saving myself for the one I love, okay?"

Of course he had no idea that he had already once pounced on Kyouya while he was drunk, and that everyone in the club knew except him and Hikaru.

"You sound like some girl wailing that I deflowered you."Hikaru sighed. He hated messy emotional scenes. Anger was okay, he didn't mind dealing with a punch or two, especially since he could give as good as he got. But this was another thing entirely. He didn't know how to handle someone who wasn't hitting him; what was he supposed to do, screech back? He wished that Kaoru hadn't left and contemplated making his own getaway. The thought of Kyouya exacting quick revenge on him for not following orders, however, kept him rooted in place. Instead, he tried reason. "Okay, I'm sorry. But Haruhi was onto us. I did the best I could under the circumstances—you didn't do jack to help out with the prank, you know. You're a really bad Kaoru substitute. Besides, I like to think I'm not a bad kisser, so it can't have been _that_ traumatizing, right?"

Tamaki slumped into a sitting position on the floor and cradled his head in his hands. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Wow. Real flattering, milord."

"You've probably had lots of practice, right?" Tamaki groaned.

"No, that was my first kiss too," Hikaru said. "If you don't count Kaoru when we were kids and didn't know what we were doing."

Tamaki raised his head. "I'm your first kiss?"

"Well. Yeah. And I'm yours. It's not really that big a deal to me. I mean, it feels good, sure, but does it really matter?"

"It felt good?"

Hikaru almost reddened at that, but instead he replied, "Well, you don't hear me whining about wanting to throw up, do you? I'm not that much of a crybaby."

"I'm not a crybaby! I just… I'm a romantic," Tamaki shot back.

"Well, you've already lost your lip virginity and no matter how big your collection of Harlequin romance novels is that's not going to change, so what does it matter now?"

"I didn't want to lose it like that," Tamaki wailed. "It's so unfair! I didn't hear any fireworks or sparks and the world didn't stop and—"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Would you like violins with that?"

"YES!"

The freshman snorted. "And I thought I was the younger one. Why do I always end up with the most problematic ukes? First it was incest with my sadistic little brother, then it was a crossdresser who happens to be dating a guy who could beat me up with both hands tied behind his back, and now I have a whiner who can't get over one little kiss." He patted Tamaki's head. "Stop fussing, milord. You're a man. Forget about it."

* * *

"How am I just supposed to forget about it?" Tamaki wailed.

Kyouya looked ready to bean him with a pillow—and probably would have if his father hadn't been in the next room. While most of his family was already used to him 'roughhousing' with Tamaki (beginning with the first time Fuyumi had walked in on him atop the other boy, half-killing him and continuing to just last week when the host king was bound, gagged, and left in a room for two hours for accidentally hitting Kaoru when he was excitedly babbling something about commoner outings), he was careful never to do it in front of his father. "Tamaki, you're too loud… and you're cutting in on valuable date time."

He and Kaoru were sitting side by side on the couch, books and tea spread out in front of them; but really, it was impossible to study together while the blonde assaulted their ears with all that noise. Kyouya had had enough practice to be able to tune out his best friend, but holding a conversation with his other half over the noise was another thing entirely. And as _everyone _already knew, disturbing Kyouya and Kaoru was never good for one's health.

"But Kyouya, this is all your fault! If you and that devilish twin hadn't tried to make us drive each other crazy like that…" The French boy's lower lip quivered, a fresh onslaught of tears looming on the horizon. "Now mother must deal with daddy being upset! Isn't mom sad in the least that dad's first kiss was stolen?"

Kyouya's eyebrow twitched. "How did we get kids if you've never even kissed?"

"Kyouya, everyone knows that the stork delivers kids down the chimney!"

Kaoru glanced at Kyouya, amused. "Should we tell him?"

"What, the facts of life? I don't know… it's more amusing to leave him this ignorant. Besides, it's all an act. He's the pervert king, remember?"

The younger boy stifled a laugh. "No, I mean…" He raised an eyebrow.

"We may as well," the Shadow King said, clearly exasperated. "That is, if he can be quiet for the half second it will take you to say it."Tamaki pouted but shut up.

"Milord, our plan of counterattack wasn't to make you two argue at all," the redhead said, golden eyes twinkling. "We already figured that you guys would think that. The real plan was to make you two idiots try to turn it against us, and of course Hikaru picked exactly the way I thought he would." He smirked. "Well, we _are _twins. I can almost hear him thinking. I bet you guys didn't think that right after your stupid crack about homosexuality I was already telling sempai that we should do something to get back at you both."

Tamaki's jaw dropped open as he processed what the younger Hitachiin had just said.

Kaoru observed him carefully as he snuggled close to Kyouya. "Wait for it… wait for it…"

"You… you MONSTERS!"

"Oh no. You can't really blame us. All we did was anticipate your futile attempts at scheming. It's your own fault and besides, I told you two not to get carried away," Kyouya said. "I can't help it if you two never listen to me."

_Besides, _his eyes seemed to say, _did you _really _think that you and Hikaru could ever one-up us?_ Haruhi had already muttered something about 'the Manipulative Pair', with the way she said the words making it obvious that it had to be in capitals. The rest of the club members had immediately taken up the newfound title and occasionally referred to them using it—in fact, the two were actually a little proud of it.

Of course, the girls had no idea that they were that evil. They all seemed to think that Kaoru was some innocent little angel now that he was apart from his wilder twin brother and well, they acknowledged that Kyouya did have a bit of a scary streak but according to Renge that was what made him so damn _hot_.

That line made the hosts unanimously state that girls were crazy (even Haruhi agreed—and Kyouya).

"You think maybe he'd handle it better if we told him that you were actually his first kiss?" Kaoru whispered to Kyouya, making his partner choke on a gulp of Earl Gray.

The Shadow King shot him a black look over the tops of his eyeglasses. "Kaoru, light of my life… over my dead body. Besides, do you really think that he'll be thrilled that he… as your brother would put it, 'jumped me'?"

"Okay, good point. Him being assaulted versus him doing the assaulting, the pain versus the guilt… tough call."

"Why don't you go pester Hikaru about this instead of bothering us?" Kyouya asked Tamaki.

Tamaki sat up. "Hey… yeah, you're right, mom! Why didn't I think of that?"

The Shadow King exchanged a glance with Kaoru. Usually Kyouya could foresee all possible outcomes, but even he couldn't perfectly predict certain wild cards. And Tamaki's weird thought process happened to be one of those things. "Erm, milord?" Kaoru ventured, sounding a little like he was approaching a wild animal. "What are you…?"

"Kyouya, I should have thought of it myself!" Tamaki was nodding furiously. Wheels seemed to be turning in his (empty) head. "I don't really like it, but now… I see I have no alternative." He bolted out he door, calling out his thanks over his shoulder.

"Why do I feel like we're in for something insane at club tomorrow?" Kaoru muttered.

Kyouya took a sip of his already-cold tea and made a face. "Club is _always _insane," he pointed out.

"Yes, but I bet you milord will do something so outrageous that at least half the girls will faint," Kaoru said with a wicked grin.

"I know better than to bet against that," Kyouya mused. His mind was already racing, going through as many possible outcomes as it could. That was how the Shadow King's mind operated: he tried to foresee any situation, and he was usually successful. With Tamaki in the works, however, he had to get creative. Nothing was too outrageous for his best friend. "I think half is underestimating him, given how _we _don't know what on earth he's talking about."

"Three-quarters?"

"I'm estimating eighty percent," Kyouya decided, pushing his glasses up. "At least."

The next day, Kyouya, Kaoru, the rest of the Host Club and all of its customers were treated to the sight of Tamaki marching up to Hikaru, spinning him around and saying (very loudly), "Take responsibility!" before he pulled the other boy in for a kiss.

* * *

A/N: And... DONE! Stupid Tamaki. :) Liked it? Hated it? I'd love to hear either. Again, if you guys have any requests, you can include them in a review or PM me. Remember, more reviews, faster updates. If I get a certain number of updates (I have the number fixed in my mind but I can't tell you guys what it is yet) I'll post the next chapter immediately. Thanks for reading and have a fantastic summer.


	3. Sacrifice

A/N: Hey all. Another chapter of insanity ahead. Enjoy some laughs and a little drama.

Anyway. This chapter is for: Always a Bookworm, for rocking awesome reviews which really make me smile (and yes, I'm starting to think that I'll probably end up dedicating just about this whole fic for her, 'cause I can't help but have to thank her every single time for all the support), the lovely recurring reviewers in particular yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, Beckyno1, Kiriyu-chan, and May Eve; for starlight2005, the craziest Snape-lookalike I'll ever know; and for the wonderful, lovely person who won't know that I'm dedicating this fanfic to her because without her, I would have failed my accounting class, because without her I wouldn't have someone to fangirl with, and because without her, the world would be less someone with fantastic taste in FMA fanfiction.

Dragging on too long, will continue down. So without further ado, Chapter Two.

* * *

Chapter Two: Sacrifice

"What the hell was that?" Hikaru was yelling. Now their positions were reversed—Tamaki had been the one to initiate it, and he was the one getting upset. Unlike Tamaki, though, he would never freeze up and whimper by himself. Oh no. Hikaru was more of the 'grab-the-nearest-weapon-handy-and-start-bashing' type.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Mori had quietly decided to move all the sharp objects out of the room.

"I _know _I said that kissing is no big deal," the redhead hissed, looking ready to spit fire, "but you did it _in front of a room full of fangirls!_ That's crossing the line! I never even did that with Kaoru! What did you think you were doing?"

"You know, they're kind of made for each other," Haruhi noted. "They're both immature."

"Impulsive," Kyouya added, observing them.

"Impossible," said Hunny.

"Idiotic," finished Kaoru, grinning. Mori said nothing, merely contributing his usual grunt of agreement.

"Our estimate was much too conservative, Kaoru," Kyouya said with a laugh. "The only one who didn't faint or run out of the room screaming was Renge, and she nearly passed out from blood loss because of that nosebleed anyway." They had had to cut club activities short thanks to Tamaki's antics, but the Shadow King didn't seem displeased at all (probably because he was already calculating the future profits they would reap from the scandal—and judging from how fast his pen was moving, it was definitely substantial).

"Tama-chan, why did you kiss Hika-chan?" Hunny asked. "We already know that you were only trying to fool us."

"Aha! But this is where it's different," the king proclaimed, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "I've always been determined that my first kiss should be with the person I love. But then Kyouya said I should take it up with Hikaru and I thought it was absolutely brilliant! I had it _the wrong way around_. That kiss was supposed to make us fall in love!"

They stared at him, stunned. "What, haven't any of you read fairy tales before?" Tamaki asked innocently. "Snow White, Sleeping Beauty—all they needed was to be kissed, and they found their princes!"

"…I definitely wouldn't call Hikaru a prince," muttered Haruhi.

"I've never met a princess as stupid as milord either," Kaoru added.

"Tamaki logic at its finest," the Shadow King said, shaking his head. "Kaoru, maybe we really _should _have explained the facts of life."

Hunny nodded in agreement. "Kyou-chan, do you think if they opened Tama-chan's head and looked inside they would find little aliens bouncing around?"

"Hold it," Hikaru said, holding up his hand to stop the blonde's babbling. "Whoever said anything about me being in love with you?"

"Oh Hikaru," Kaoru sighed. His brother was always hopelessly slow about certain things. "He should know that it's pointless. All this time in the club and he still doesn't know that arguing with milord is like telling fire not to burn."

"I'm not in love with you either!" Tamaki said cheerfully.

"Great, so why don't we let it stay that way?"

The blonde smiled condescendingly at him. "But we're _supposed_ to fall in love," he said, as if explaining to a child that one plus one equaled two. "See, it can go two ways: either first you're in love and _then _you kiss, or you kiss and then you fall in love! I admit it's a little disappointing that we didn't fall in love as quickly as they do in the fairy tales, but I'm sure that the magic will work sooner or later! It's really very simple, Hikaru, but I can explain it again if you still don't understand."

"Please… don't bother," Hikaru said, rubbing at his temples. "There's no more club stuff, right?" At Kyouya's nod, he grabbed his bag. "I'm out."

"Wait for me!" Tamaki said, snatching up his own bag and following. They could hear the blonde's voice as he trotted after the redhead, who was attempting to block him out—and failing miserably; Tamaki was speaking at a decibel level usually reserved for aircraft. "Let's go home together, Hikaru! That's what lovers do!"

"Shut up! Don't say things people might misunderstand!"

"You're blushing, Hikaru!"

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! I AM NOT!"

"It's cute!"

"Don't call me cute, you overgrown… puppy!"

"Aw… that's sweet, Hikaru. I love puppies! Should I give you a pet name too? What would match puppy? But you're more of a kitten type…"

"THAT WAS NOT A PET NAME!"

"Should we go help them out?" Haruhi asked.

"Depends," Kaoru replied, a smirk unfurling on his lips. Yep, definitely a sadist. "By 'help', do you mean 'egg milord on to even more idiotic heights' or 'help'? And while I know your heart is good and noble, please stop and remember all the times Hikaru tried to force you into a skimpy little dress."

She paused. "Let me think it over for a while…"

"Everyone in a hundred-mile radius can hear that fool," Kyouya muttered. He still couldn't help smiling, but Kaoru noted a little pucker in his mouth as he spoke. A tiny frisson of worry bubbled in the pit of the freshman's stomach. When Kyouya got that expression on his face, it never boded well. "He's never been quite this vocal about the object of his feelings."

The redhead looked at him. "…sempai?"

"Never mind, it's nothing."

Kaoru gave him a little nod. He didn't pry into Kyouya's affairs, ever. "Okay." He didn't have time to think on it long, because the next thing he knew, Hikaru was screaming, "KAORU!!!!! HEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!"

* * *

"You're sitting alone today, Kaoru-kun?" one of the customers asked. "That's rare."

Kaoru smiled a little. "Well…"

As Hikaru had once said, the dynamics of the club were actually divided into three. Although they also functioned as a single unit, mostly they broke into groups. At the time that he'd made that comment it had been Tamaki and Kyouya, Mori and Hunny, and him with Kaoru and Haruhi. Of course, after two couples had been formed, the interactions had shifted to Kyouya and Kaoru, Mori with Haruhi and Hunny… leaving him and Tamaki.

Now, that hadn't really bothered any of them, mostly because Hikaru was so good at entertaining himself (usually at the expense of everyone else's peace and quiet—and mental health) and Tamaki blissfully flitted from one group to another.

However, now that the dynamics were shifting again, Kaoru began to get bothered. Not because Tamaki and Hikaru were starting to be acknowledged as a unit… but because he saw an old pairing starting to make a comeback.

Kyouya and Tamaki.

For some reason Tamaki and Hikaru's involvement seemed to bother him a great deal. He'd become the one who attempted to restrain Tamaki from his (extremely boisterous) public displays of affection (which included stopping him from singing a love ballad for Hikaru on the public address system last Tuesday—something _everyone _thanked him for, including Hikaru, which was a first, although his twin had choked on his words and then ended up by muttering curses under his breath as he walked away).

Renge giggled. "Is this Kyouya-sama's epic betrayal of your romance? Has he grown tired of you and finally decided to express his long-buried feelings to his best friend?"

"What?" Kaoru sputtered. Just when he'd thought that milord was the craziest person on earth, along came Renge. And she was worse: while everyone just snorted at Tamaki, Renge was brainwashing the other girls. Whenever Hikaru called Kyouya a brainwashing demon, he secretly thought of her. "Uh, yeah, that's great. He's expressing his feelings by chaining milord to the couch and forbidding him from reciting really bad love poems."

"He's jealous," affirmed Renge. "And using chains?" Her face split into a wide, creepy grin. "It's all a part of my next doujinshi!"

Kaoru dropped his head into his hands. God deliver him from these crazy fangirls…

"Oh, wait, I've got it!" crowed another freshman. "Kyouya-sama actually liked Tamaki-san from the very start, but he decided that his love would forever remain unrequited because he thought that Tamaki-san only liked girls. So he comforted himself with Kaoru-kun instead, even though deep inside he still truly loved Tamaki-san. But now that he's learned that Tamaki-san actually likes boys he's chosen to throw over Kaoru-kun and pursue the one he truly loves! And so, he decides to throw over Kaoru-kun like yesterday's meatloaf!"

"Meatloaf?" echoed Kaoru, outraged. Normally he ignored whatever ridiculous ideas popped into their heads, but if he was going to be insulted, they could at least come up with better similes.

"Well, your hair is red, so you're kind of a meathead… so… meatloaf, meathead, they're not that far from each other…"

"MEATHEAD?!"

"I like it!" Renge said brightly, cutting off the tirade that was obviously on the tip of Kaoru's tongue. "Moreover, he could never bring himself to tell Kaoru-kun that his feelings for him were less than genuine, so he tried to become serious about Kaoru-kun. Hence the ring on Kaoru-kun's finger. But in reality, he could never get Tamaki-sempai out of his mind!" Then her smile faltered. "Oh wait, it's that idiot fake prince with Kyouya-sama? I OBJECT! I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID!"

"But Renge-san, think of how well they clash against each other," the first freshman sighed dreamily. "Everything you said about the contrast between Kyouya-sama and Kaoru-kun also applies to Kyouya-sama with Tamaki-san!"

"Hmm… blonde against brunette… someone as brilliant and sharp as Kyouya-sama against an absolute idiot like that fake prince… The mother-father and best friend dynamic between the two of them…" Renge looked pained. "If it weren't that idiot fake prince, I would have fallen in love with this pairing!"

"Renge-san, it's your duty to put aside your dislike for Tamaki-san! Remember that we fangirls must have a strong stomach for this sort of thing!"

She nodded. "I'll do it," she said bravely, causing tears of pride to come to the other girls' eyes as they applauded her.

…girls were so weird. All the fight went out of him and he contented himself with shaking his head. No wonder he was gay. If all girls were like this, it was only sane for him to like his own gender.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," snorted another girl. "Kaoru-kun was Kyouya-sama's first love, right?"

"And after all, you never forget your first love. No, it's just a fleeting fancy of Kyouya-sama's," agreed one more. "He'll recover his senses, throw over that blond tramp, and fall in love with Kaoru-kun all over again." Apparently this was one girl who really, _really _disliked Tamaki. Probably had a closet crush on Hikaru. And judging by her hair, she bleached it—probably jealous of Tamaki's natural blondeness.

"No way. 'Best friends' was only a good cover-up for Kyouya-sama's ulterior motives," protested one particular KyouyaxTamaki supporter. "You see it all the time in manga!"

"Hey, you're all being cruel. Kaoru-kun's just sitting here with us," whispered one fangirl who'd just realized how rude they were being to Kaoru.

Well, _finally_.

Renge covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Kaoru-kun! Don't worry… of course Kyouya-sama loves you." She giggled. For all that she was saying, it certainly wouldn't prevent her from releasing a KyouyaxTamaki doujinshi. After all, she had risked life and limb for a KyouyaxHikaru doujinshi—and that was Kaoru's own twin brother. For her, a KyouyaxTamaki doujinshi would be a piece of cake, and she wasn't going to let a little thing like the truth get in the way of her fantasies.

"We were only joking around," comforted one girl.

But all the blood had drained out of Kaoru's face as he watched Kyouya snap at Tamaki to get a hold of himself and stop trying to throw himself at Hikaru—The Shadow King's arms snaking around his best friend's waist to restrain him. _You never forget your first love._

* * *

"I'm so damn tired," Hikaru moaned into the pillows so that the words were muffled.

"Oh really? Then why don't you go sleep in your room?" Kaoru bonked him on the head before gliding over to his desk, a thick hardcover already open and waiting on the tabletop. "I'm busy. What are you doing here?"

"I don't want to go in my room," the older twin pleaded, his expression so heartbreaking that Kaoru just couldn't kick him out. "I want to talk to my favorite brother in the whole wide world."

"I'm your only brother, stupid. And don't complain. You brought this on yourself. Remember what milord always said?"

Hikaru shot him a sour look. "What? Aside from 'let me feed you, it's so much more intimate like this' and 'you're so adorable when you're angry' and 'in time you'll come to return my feelings because the rules of love and kissing make it so' and…"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "I get the point, Hikaru, now stop it before I throw up. No, I mean he always used to say 'never mess with a maiden's pure heart'."

"He's not a maiden and as far as I know we never listened to that. In our heyday we made so many girls cry that if we'd bottled their tears we could have filled a swimming pool." He paused, considering. "An Olympic-sized one."

"Well, now it's biting you back in the ass."

"That's not fair! Why is the karma only affecting me? Oh wait—so that's why you ended up dating that demonic—OW!"

"You really don't get hit enough, Hikaru."

"Please. I'd rather get hit by you everyday—"

"Masochist. Tell me again why they think you're the seme between the two of us?"

"—than have to deal with milord while he's being all lovey-dovey," Hikaru finished, shuddering. "I mean, it's one thing for a prank, but…"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "So he's serious."

"He thinks he is. We all know that he's just spouting nonsense, but he doesn't."

Kaoru idly turned the page. "How bad is it?"

"Kaoru, _he asked me what we would name our babies._"

The other redhead stifled a laugh. The idea of Hikaru as a father horrified him to no end. Knowing his brother, his spawn would be a frightening, gun-wielding little homunculus. With excellent dress sense and a terrible potty mouth. "Did you come up with anything nice? If it's a girl I think I could suggest a few—"

"Kaoru!"

"It'll go away eventually," he reassured him, finally closing his book. It was impossible to read while talking to Hikaru anyway. "Maybe you could sit him down and try having a serious conversation about it?"

Hikaru snorted, recalling the events of the last few days. "Every time I try to tell him he's mental he just gives me a goopy little smile and goes on and on about how I'm still in denial, that I'm actually ready to fall in love with him and just haven't realized it yet, that it's _fated._ And the only way you'd get him to sit still long enough to say something is by knocking him out... and his head is so thick even _that's _hard to accomplish."

Kaoru snorted. "Then I'll settle for being best man at your wedding. Make sure you pick a good color theme—not pink, it'll clash with our hair."

"Speaking of weddings, where's your twitchy boyfriend? Doesn't he usually ring you up at this time?"

Normally that sort of remark meant that Hikaru was leaving himself wide open for a snappy comeback (or a punch in the gut), but there was none. The younger twin was silent for a while, hands tracing the embossed title of his book. "He's worried about milord."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you'd be worried too if I went off the deep end and started drooling over some weirdo, wouldn't you?"

He ignored the insult. "Kaoru, you already did—_hey!_ No throwing books! That dictionary could have killed me!"

"You're getting better at dodging."Hikaru's eyes narrowed; Kaoru never, ever missed—this had to mean that something was on his mind. And whatever it was, Kaoru was practically guaranteed to twist it, overanalyze it, and blow it out of proportion.

Like Kyouya, Kaoru had the gift of analyzing situations and imagining the many futures that could stem from a single event. He wasn't as good at it as the sophomore, though, and unlike the Shadow King, Kaoru was prone to allowing his emotions to affect his ability and twist him into being a little over-the-top. His twin sighed. "They're best friends, Hikaru, so he has to try and watch over him. I guess it's normal to be concerned when your best friend…" he struggled to find the right way to put it.

"Has the thought process of a gnat?"

"That works." Kaoru laughed and bit his lip. No one else knew (with the exception of maybe the too-perceptive seniors, but it was hard to tell) that Kyouya had once been in love with Tamaki. And sure, Kaoru had faith in him and their relationship, but he wasn't perfect. Even one of the Manipulative Pair could feel insecure sometimes…

"Maybe if I hired a few assassins," muttered Hikaru.

Jerked out of his thoughts, Kaoru said reasonably, "Do you even know where to go to hire assassins?"

The older twin rolled his eyes, plucking at the fabric of Kaoru's blankets. He yanked on a loose thread. "That's easy. I go to your hellspawn boyfriend, borrow a couple of his spare demons, and get them to kill Tamaki."

"…sempai would kill _you_."

"Not if I get milord to do something stupid before I ask."

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Hikaru, when does milord _not _do anything stupid? Sempai's used to it by now. Everybody calls me the patient one in the club, but Kyouya-sempai's practically a saint for putting up with milord."

"Good point, except for the saint part. Demons aren't exactly holier-than-thou. And speaking of being a complete and utter jackass, you guys were the one who made all this happen. Milord told me about your nefarious plot."

Kaoru chose to gloss over the first part of Hikaru's little rant. "Nefarious? Ooh, Hikaru's all grown up. He's using big words now."

"I'm older than you and I could beat you with one hand tied behind my back."

"I'm cuter than you and I could outsmart you with one brain tied behind mine," countered Kaoru. "It was your own fault, thinking you guys could one-up us."

"I'd kill you guys, but I just don't have the energy," grumbled the other twin.

"You could try. Tachibana-san would crucify you."

"Last time you said castrate, now it's crucify? Where the hell does it end?"

"You know, you could actually _try_ dating him… just see where it ends up."

Hikaru shot him a sour look. "With me in the madhouse, probably. Or in jail after I've killed him."

Kaoru sighed. "Look, is it more than just it about him being… well, milord? Is it because he's a guy?"

The older twin considered. "No, actually. I don't really care about it being a boy or a girl. And hey, given what kind of girls are in Ouran…"

Kaoru smirked. "That was just what I was thinking about the fangirl squad. It's all their fault that we're batting for this team."

"I'm not gay, I just don't really care either way," Hikaru said. "Maybe I'm asexual."

"What, like a vegetable?"

Hikaru glowered at him. "No, I'm just too hot to be with anyone else."

"Definitely a vegetable."

"How about narcissist instead?" suggested Hikaru. "I'm pretty in love with myself." And damn proud of it too, apparently.

"No thanks. That would mean I'd be in your strike zone," snorted Kaoru.

"I don't see myself ever having a relationship with anyone," Hikaru muttered. "If something happened, it would be for fun, nothing else. After you're done with a person you leave them."

He really was exhausted; waves of dizziness were crashing over him and he had to blink hard. "Can I sleep here?" Hikaru grunted, already burrowing under the covers. Kaoru's bed always seemed nicer than his, warmer and more inviting. After sleeping next to his twin all his life it was still disorienting to wake up in a bed by himself, fingers brushing over the cold space where another body should have been curled up.

"Don't ask that after you've already taken over my bed," Kaoru snorted, trying to dig past the layers of blankets to his brother. "Go to your own room."

His order wasn't even met with the usual retort or argument. "Hikaru?" He padded over to his brother's side and saw that his chest was already rising and falling slowly in slumber. Looks like all the running around shouting matches with milord had worn out even the most notorious firecracker in the school. "Falling asleep is cheating. I can't even chew you out like this and you're hogging the blankets," he said half-heartedly, climbing in next to him. It brought a smile to his face: it was just like old times, before he'd moved out of the room they used to share. Hikaru even smelled the same. That scent even used to invade his dreams sometimes.

He laid a gentle hand on his twin's hair, wondering whether he would wake up. Hikaru shifted a little, grumbling, but his eyes stayed closed. "You know, Hikaru… it's pretty good, being in love with someone who loves you back and isn't just playing with you. You might want to try it sometime."

Hikaru inwardly rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself as his brother talked. He was just so tired, but of course his twin just had to preach the gospel of whatever brainwashing the demon king had done to him at him anyway. Maybe if he just kept on sleeping, Kaoru would let it drop. Otherwise they would just keep going round in circles, and then he would never get any sleep. And that would make it that much easier for Tamaki to swoop down and crush him in his arms the next day.

Kaoru paused, waiting for a huffed retort to his statements, and when he got none, he snuggled closer. "I hope… that you do. And hey, at least if it's with milord… I won't worry about losing Kyouya-sempai," he said with a soft, tired laugh "Because _I'm _not in it for fun, and I definitely never want him to be done with me or leave me." He sighed and shut his eyes tightly, not seeing that just as he did, another pair of aureate eyes beside him had just opened wide.

* * *

The president of Class 1-A checked the clock. "Almost time. Think we'll hold our perfect prediction streak so far?"

A girl laughed. "Oh honestly, president! As if we could get it wrong by now."

"Anyone betting on getting it wrong?" called out Renge. She had started a betting pool on Hikaru and Tamaki's relationship, and the pot had gotten pretty big. At her question, however, she just got answering snorts of laughter. "Fool's bet, Renge-san," said a boy, shaking his head.

"Five… four… three… two…"

"HIKARU! I CAME TO MEET YOU!"

Hikaru's classmates had gotten so used to Tamaki popping in and out of their class that they could set their watches by him. It had been troublesome at first (the noise Tamaki made would have drowned out a jumbo jet) but then again, who dared argue against a Suoh (aside from an Ootori)? Besides, it was amusing to see him and Hikaru battling it out.

Hikaru raised his head and uttered three words that made everyone stare.

"Oh hi, milord."

Jaws dropped. Normally Hikaru would snap something at the blonde, or pull on his earphones to try and ignore him. Or start throwing things. Or run.

But certainly not greet him.

Even Tamaki looked taken aback. Renge grabbed a notebook (Kaoru hated that she kept one; it reminded him too much of Kyouya, and for there to be any similarity between his boyfriend and _that _was simply beyond words) and started calculating new odds for the running bets. Kaoru peeked over her shoulder and noted that there was a new category labeled 'Odds that Hikaru Hit His Head Really Hard This Morning'. The odds were really good on that one.

"It's a little early to be that loud, though," the redhead continued, looking as though he hadn't noticed the way everyone was staring and listening in on them. "And class is starting in a while. I'll see you at lunch."

"Hi… Hikaru… does this mean that you're ready to embrace the inevitable?" the blonde asked, eyes shining.

Hikaru twitched, wishing that he could hit him. _Count to ten, Hikaru…_ "You… you don't have to put it like that," he managed to say instead of swearing.

"Are you feeling okay?" Tamaki said, leaning in and putting a hand to his forehead. "You don't feel warm…"

"What, are you _still_ not happy with this outcome?" Hikaru sputtered. What the hell was he supposed to do already?

He half-wished that he hadn't heard what Kaoru had said last night. But really, his little brother had never been selfish before. He'd always been the one shielding Hikaru even though he was the younger one. And he had never seen his brother happier than when he was with Kyouya, even though it made him want to projectile vomit to watch that creepy hellspawn paw at his twin.

If Kaoru ever came to his senses and walked away from the four-eyed freak willingly, that was one thing; but if Kyouya abandoned him and he went back to the near-catatonic state that he had been in the time when Hikaru and Tamaki had separated them… he owed his little brother one since he had been the cause the first time it had happened. He sure as hell wasn't going to let there be a second time, especially when he got the horrible feeling that if there was a second time, Kaoru might be so broken that he couldn't be put back together.

_Sempai and I are set for life, and that means that we've already talked about stuff like getting married and having kids. Like it or not, we're together for the long haul._

And apparently it all had something to do with Tamaki. Even the barest insinuation of such a thing made him want to go and punch the Shadow King's face in—having feelings for a guy other than his brother was something he wouldn't allow.

Who could abandon someone as hot as Kaoru? And yes, Kaoru was hot—they were identical, after all!

But while he would have seized any opportunity to attempt to inflict physical pain on the Shadow King, he knew that beating Kyouya up would be nothing but a balm for his own feelings. It wouldn't solve anything for Kaoru.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sight of the huge grin on the blonde's face. Apparently it hadn't taken him all that long to stop questioning the sudden change of heart. "Okay, I'll see you later!" he burbled, practically skipping as he walked away.

He paused at the doorway. "I LOVE YOU HIKARU!" he yelled over his shoulder.

The redhead snapped. He might have to give in, but that didn't mean that he'd do it without dragging his heels, kicking and screaming. "YEAH, NOW THE WHOLE SCHOOL AND I KNOW, _THANKS SO MUCH_." He sat down, fuming. "He's so goddamn simpleminded."

Kaoru, however, wasn't, and he was _definitely _going to question him. "Yeah? Well, you were the one who just gave the go signal to that so-called simpleminded person. What brought this on, Hikaru? Last night you were complaining about him and contemplating murder." He paused. "Don't tell me milord got Nekozawa to do a love spell or something."

"I'm just tired of resisting. I don't have the energy to even play video games anymore," Hikaru lied. "And you know… it gets exhausting being on my own. I hate to say it but your freaky boyfriend was right. I can't function when I don't have a partner."

"So you're not doing it because you love him," Haruhi said, a frown creasing her brow. Normally she would understand having to give in just to get Tamaki off her back, but those were little things, like having to put on a dress or inviting them to her house. And it took quite a few feet of rope and the combined efforts of the twins _and _the annoying Host King to get her to surrender.

Hikaru closed his eyes. "Trust me, Haruhi, I may not sound like it but the only reason I'm doing this is because of love," he muttered. And it was the truth. Brotherly love was not something that you could take lightly if you were a Hitachiin. He'd already done that once, and he would never do it again.

"This isn't another prank, right?" the cross-dresser asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "You're not just stringing him along to dump him flat for kicks?"

"Haruhi… I know you seem to think that I'm the 'mean' twin, but even _I'm _not that evil," Hikaru assured her. "Things like that are reserved for creatures of the underworld like Kyou—_ow!_ I didn't even finish the sentence!"

"Like I would let you," Kaoru said, rolling his eyes. "Like we don't know what you were about to say anyway." He poked him. "Don't even joke about sempai ever being that type." His voice was light-hearted enough, but Hikaru frowned.

"Fine, fine, I know that the bloodsucker isn't unfaithful to you," he grumbled. _I won't give him the opportunity to be._

* * *

"I now believe in the existence of aliens," mused Haruhi as she watched Hikaru twitch when Tamaki tried to spoon-feed him during lunch. She'd been sure that that morning had just been a temporary lapse in Hikaru's sanity, but so far all the evidence pointed to the contrary.

"I believed in that a long time ago, Haru-chan," Hunny said cheerfully. "After all, Tama-chan exists, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but this is insane! Hikaru should be either killing him or running away by now." In fact, Hikaru _did _look like he'd like to rip Tamaki's arm off, but instead he reached out, took the spoon, and muttered something under his breath as he tossed it over his shoulder, hitting an unsuspecting student in the forehead.

Whatever it was, it was hopefully more polite than the many four-letter words dancing in the redhead's mind at the time.

"Hi-ka-ru," Tamaki said brightly, almost singing the syllables out.

It set the freshman's teeth on edge. Kaoru was usually the one who drew his name out like that. He used it whenever he was angry at his older brother, so that Hikaru's body was already instinctually bracing itself to grovel. Plus, he was, to his chagrin, flinching away from a ruler (or dictionary, or whatever Kaoru had managed to get his hands on) that wasn't there.

"Hi-ka-ru," Tamaki tried again.

"Don't call me that!"

The host king wilted. "Okay. I'm sorry. But Hikaru…"

"If you try to spoon-feed me again, I'm out of here," growled Hikaru, slamming down his chopsticks as he finally reached the limits of his endurance. "And my lunch will be on your head as I go."

"No. I just wanted to make sure… this means that we're a couple?"

"Yes," the redhead answered tiredly.

"And that I'm your boyfriend now?"

"Yes."

"And we can have lots of pretty golden-haired kids running around calling me papa and you'll be my adoring wife making bento for me every day?"

Hikaru looked up at him. "You know how they've got that saying that third time's the charm, milord? Well, they lied."

Tamaki pouted. "I'm just making sure."

"Yeah, you AND THE REST OF THIS CAFETERIA," Hikaru said loudly, glaring at everyone listening in on them. They didn't have a shred of tact. They could at least _pretend _not to be eavesdropping. His outburst barely made them pause, though; they just pretended that they had no idea what he was talking about. "These people don't get out enough."

"So can I make the announcement?" Tamaki asked, eyes shining.

"What announcement?"

"You don't know about the announcement, Hikaru? Well, no problem, leave it to me." He stood on his chair. "Here ye, fair students of Ouran!"

All eyes turned to them. What era did Tamaki think he was from anyway?

"I, Suoh Tamaki, have pledged my undying love with Hitachiin Hikaru and henceforth we are a couple blessed by the rays of the golden sun!"

Haruhi choked and dropped her chopsticks. "Rays of the golden sun?"

"It's Tamaki," Mori said by way of explanation, getting up to fetch her a fresh pair of chopsticks.

…the day that anyone understood Tamaki's thought process would probably be the day that the world ended.

Hikaru gaped at him. _You've got to be kidding me. This is NOT happening._

"Gay love!" squealed the girls.

"Seriously? That Hitachiin Hikaru?" said the guys. Nothing that Tamaki did surprised them anymore, but Hikaru was still normal in their books. As normal as a guy who liked to mess with Kyouya could be, anyway.

Haruhi shook her head. "I know that Hikaru said that he was doing it for love, but I mean… after something like this… I bet on Tamaki-sempai's demise."

"Is that an official bet, Haruhi-kun?" asked Renge. "I can't offer you a good profit for that, though. It's almost guaranteed that Tamaki-sempai will be in the infirmary after Hikaru's done with him…"

Hikaru was turning a rather fetching shade of purple. His hand reached out, obviously itching to strangle Tamaki. He stopped though, when he heard two particular voices taking note of the whole three-ring circus.

"What a fool," snorted Kyouya from his table with Kaoru. "Wearing his heart on his sleeve like that… I should go up there and pull him down before he breaks his neck. Or his heart."

"Let him break it, sempai," Kaoru joked. "After a stunt like that, he kind of deserves it."

"He can't help having been dropped on his head a few too many times as a baby," the Shadow King replied smoothly. Kaoru laughed but twined his fingers around Kyouya's, holding him in place.

Hikaru's eyes narrowed. He wiped his mouth with a napkin before tossing it down on the table. "Yeah, we're a couple," he said loudly. "And yeah, we're blessed by the rays of the frigging sun. Hell, we're even _more _blessed by the rays of the moon, considering what time of day we're most energetic."

…and then chaos erupted as the fangirls nearly destroyed the school.

* * *

Later that day they were both called to the vice-principal's office for starting a riot. Tamaki was the first to enter; they had been requested to come in separately.

"Suoh-kun, this is entirely unacceptable," the vice-principal said. "Due to your actions, half the cafeteria was demolished. You're going to have to write an apology essay and we'll be in contact with your guardians."

Tamaki had nodded meekly, his mind suddenly racing with what his grandmother would say. His father would probably laugh it off—his father was probably the reason why he wasn't suspended and would do lines instead—but his grandmother was a whole other situation. He was still pondering the problem when the vice-principal asked him to go and get Hikaru in.

"Oi, what's with you?" Hikaru said, looking at him closely. "You look like you're thinking. It's weird."

"He said that we started a riot," Tamaki told him. "They're going to call our parents and have us turn in an essay."

The freshman's face hardened. "Screw that." His eyes narrowed as he calculated. "Give me five minutes."

He slammed his way into the vice-principal's office, leaving the door ajar behind him. Tamaki could hear every word of their verbal sparring. "—sue you guys for sticking us with a crime we didn't commit. To hell with that; the girls went on a rampage on their own. You want the media sniffing on you guys for suppressing our rights?" Then he proceeded to say something that had the vice-principal weakly calling Tamaki back, rescinding his decision to make them write essays.

"I'm good," Hikaru said with a grin and a spring in his step as they left.

"I think I fell in love with you all over again," Tamaki agreed.

For a while the weeks passed like that. From all appearances, Tamaki and Hikaru were officially 'together', much to the delight of the rabid fangirls who liked stalking them during lunch and their outings after school.

True, there were things that seemed a little odd to a few people. Hikaru was quieter about the whole relationship and preferred to stay back and let Tamaki decide what to do; the redhead was the domineering type, and when he didn't get his way he could get nasty, so what was up?

Renge, though, had come up with the perfect explanation for that.

"It's because he's the uke," she had announced—at which point Hikaru had thrown his dictionary at her (apparently it was the Hitachiin weapon of the week). Unlike Kaoru, though, he didn't miss, and the otaku had had to be dragged to the infirmary and had stayed there for the rest of the day. Hikaru had gotten a terrible scolding from the teachers, but he had brushed it off. Afterwards, he marched to the club, pulled up a chair, stood on it, and swore that if he had to be the uke he'd rather die a virgin.

Tamaki had pulled him down (he'd been wailing that Hikaru might fall and break his neck) and merely said, "It doesn't really matter to me so long as you're happy."

Needless to say, the fangirls had a field day. Even Renge, who'd nearly had a concussion, was thrilled with the outcome (and the recording of the moment, given to her by one of her deputy fangirls).

Though a few Hikaru-as-an-uke doujinshi and fanfiction did somehow manage to sneak past the redhead's radar undetected. As the fangirls put it, "In the end he'll give in, of course! Tamaki-sama will unleash his hidden forceful side and take him whether he likes it or not! And protesting ukes are just too cute!"

There were more strange facts. They touched a lot, but there were no 'tender Kyouya-Kaoru-type caresses', as one fangirl put it, or 'nasty pawing and slobbering' according to Hikaru. Whenever they _did_ touch, Hikaru would usually make a joke (usually of the dirty variety) and brush it off or ignore it. It was exactly like his routine with his brother, which satisfied most of the customers but raised the question among the club members and some of the sharper clients—his act with Kaoru had been just that: an act. So why was it the same with Tamaki?

It was a sensitive subject, and no one wanted to be the first to suggest that something was off between the two. Haruhi and Hunny seemed to be going for optimistic, deciding that Hikaru just hadn't had enough practice expressing his feelings in public. And especially not for a guy. They all knew how hard it was for Hikaru to be candid, and it didn't help that Tamaki was so vocal about everything. Give him time and he'd change.

Mori and Kaoru didn't say anything. Kaoru because he was a tiny bit glad that Tamaki was now off-limits—he knew that Kyouya would never make a move on someone attached—and tried to tell himself that he was being paranoid about Hikaru not really caring that way for the blonde. Mori was quiet because… well, he was Mori.

Kyouya spoke up only once, on the rare occasion that he and Hikaru were alone—Kaoru had gotten up to get something, and Tamaki had been roped in by some of the girls to do only God knew what. Given what kind of freakish girls populated their clientele, he wouldn't have been surprised if they'd used him as a sacrifice for some kind of satanic ritual. "I don't know what your motive is, but if you aren't serious about him, stop it."

"What's it to you?" Hikaru muttered.

"You never stop to think of how you could hurt him, do you?" the Shadow King drawled. Hikaru hated the way he talked: as though the whole world had to listen to him when he did. And it was even more annoying that the world _did._ "There are consequences for your actions, in case you haven't realized that yet. And when they do come, Tamaki's the one who'll be hurt, not you."

The redhead snorted. No wonder Kaoru was feeling so insecure. Kyouya wouldn't butt out. "Worry about your own relationship, sempai. You don't have to poke your nose in. Tamaki-sempai's not your boyfriend."

Dark eyes flashed behind glasses. "You mean he's yours?"

They all had the misconception that when Hikaru was mad, he shouted and threw things. Actually, when he was truly angry, he was just like Kaoru: the rage simmered, hot and tight, seeping through the little cracks in voice and aureate eyes. "Yeah, that's right. So why don't you back off and pay more attention to my brother instead of bothering me and milord?"

Kyouya sighed. "It's only a matter of time before guilt catches up to you, Hikaru."

Hikaru tossed his head. "What the hell would I feel guilty about?" He was doing a favor to Tamaki, really, indulging his freakish impulse. They'd all done it at one time or another—gone along with something crazy for the sake of keeping the blonde happy—so why was Kyouya condemning him now? Kyouya was even the one of them who most frequently gave in to his best friend, no matter how cold or forbidding he usually was or pretended to be.

"Because you can't stay with someone out of pity, or just because it's convenient, or for some other reason that you haven't told any of us, which I suspect is the case. And I'm certain this isn't a joke of yours, because even you wouldn't take it that far. You know I'd break your neck if you broke Tamaki's heart for a few laughs."

Hikaru bridled at the suggestion that Kyouya could overpower him. "You could try."

"And I would succeed," Kyouya told him.

Hikaru opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. "Kaoru would kill you." it was really the only card he could play in response to the demon king's statement, even though he was ashamed that that was the best he could come up with.

Kyouya considered that. "He'd be mad," he acknowledged.

"He. Would. _Kill_. You."

"Yes, he would, but the point is moot since I already know that it isn't a prank of yours."

"Thanks for your faith in me, demon king."

"Think nothing of it."

"…I was being sarcastic."

Kyouya arched an eyebrow. "Yes, I know, so was I. If you're going to be in a relationship you should at least be with someone you actually care about. And the longer it takes for you to break the news to him, the worse it'll be."

Hikaru paused. "God. You talk like someone out of a shoujo manga, it's gross. Why does everyone here talk like they stepped out of a shoujo manga?! Is the Ouran High School Host Club a shoujo manga? Sheesh."

"Actually…"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear some convoluted 'life is a shoujo manga' theory of yours. Anyway, robots don't have hearts."

"Apparently my programming is very advanced. It's a marvel what technology is able to accomplish today."

"And you're even worse when you patronize me. Oh wait, that would be… all the damn time."

Kyouya adjusted his glasses. "Just keep what I said in mind."

"Fine, if it'll make you stop talking. Every time you open your mouth I expect to see bats flying out." He frowned when the Shadow King's expression was hidden behind the flash of light that reflected off his glasses.

At that moment both their significant others had rejoined them, so they both shut up. They seemed to have an unspoken agreement that neither would talk about the matter in front of either Kaoru or Tamaki.

Tamaki tentatively reached a hand out for Hikaru's, and the younger boy didn't object. _Who cares, it's just my hand. It's no big deal._ Kyouya glanced back at him, and Hikaru winced inwardly, suddenly getting the sinking feeling that this was just the beginning of something…

* * *

A/N: End of chapter two.

I'm thinking of doing a NekozawaxKyouya after this, to fulfill May Eve's fanfic request. It'll probably be written within the OTNKverse, but that might change. Oh, and when I say I'm thinking doing it... it probably means that it'll get posted maybe months from now. What can I say, I really procrastinate.

Okay, let me get to the heart of something serious: I'm starting to get somewhat discouraged with this story, and yes, I know, it's only been a prologue and a chapter in, but I can't help but feel that maybe I was in error in attempting to write this sequel. So I'm thinking about maybe discontinuing it. :( I have most of it mapped out in my mind all the way down to the end, but I'm starting to second-guess myself and wonder whether writing a TamakixHikaru was such a good idea.

Thanks for reading this far. You guys all deserve Kyouya's amazing ginger ice cream.


	4. Complications

A/N: I hadn't planned on posting this chapter just yet... in my opinion, it could do with a bit of editing but I don't have the time just yet. Tomorrow I still have a summer class exam (horrors!) but I'm in a pretty good mood since I just got featured in an article about cosplaying. :) Cosplay is just so... 3

So... this chapter is dedicated to the ever-amazing Always A Bookworm, the kind of reviewer an author's dreams are made of; to Aisu Dragoness, whose request I've already completed but will not be posting until I've finished with NaF; to my lovely, lovely reviewers especially porcelainanimals, Beckyno1, tokyorain06 (hey, thanks for reviewing twice!), pi-or-pie, yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, and so on. You guys are all amazing and deserve sparkly rainbows.

This is also a 3-day late happy birthday to a very good friend of mine. :) Anyway, without further ado, Chapter Three.

* * *

Chapter Three: Complications

"He loves me, lalala, and I love him, lalala, and the world is bright and beautiful!" Tamaki stopped a random stranger as he was walking from the supermarket with Haruhi. It was a 'father-daughter' bonding experience he insisted on; when she'd refused he'd started whimpering, and then Hikaru begged her to agree so that he could actually have some time to himself (she didn't blame him; Tamaki even went to the bathroom with him these days, and when Hikaru had come to her he'd been holding tufts of red hair he'd apparently yanked out of his head in sheer frustration), so she gave in and then begged Mori and Hunny to come along.

Tamaki shook the person's hand with a broad grin on his face. "Hello! Isn't the day just gorgeous? How could anything be wrong in a world as wonderful as this, so full of wonderful, wonderful love? Let's all sing and dance and go to Mt. Fuji!"

"Uh, sempai, please stop," Haruhi said as the person hurried away (afraid of being mugged by this very good-looking crazy person, apparently). She looked to Mori for help, but he just shrugged at her as he continued carrying the packages.

She sighed. "Tamaki-sempai… I _know _that you're happy about Hikaru, but… I mean, we almost got kicked out of the supermarket because you were singing to the melons. And scaring kids. And you knocked over that chocolate display while you were dancing around." Her normally deadpan expression twisted into anger. "It was a sale! How could you almost get me kicked out when there was a sale?"

"But Haruhi, _you're _full of love too! Beautiful, beautiful love, my darling daughter!" She flinched as she heard some passing people whisper, "That's his daughter? My, so young and already a father, and she's so big too… kids these days!"

"You. Are. NOT. My. Father," she hissed.

Tamaki pouted. "But… how could you deny our parental bond? Daddy is so sad! My grief is shattering my heart into a million pieces…" He started to sit down next to a parking meter and curl up into a little ball of woe.

"Oh great," Haruhi sighed as he started to bawl. She looked pleadingly at Hunny, who was busy eating a huge swirly lollipop they'd gotten for him. "Sempai…"

Hunny looked up. "Hey Tama-chan. _Love_."

Tamaki perked up again. "Yes, that's right! I have my darling Hikaru's love! Nothing can be wrong in a world where I love and am loved by a beautiful, redheaded Adonis whose charming face is only surpassed by his wit!"

Haruhi groaned. She would never walk in this neighborhood again. "And now he's back to that. Either he gushes about love to every tree and rock we pass, or he bawls about his uncaring child. Is there a middle ground?"

"Sorry Haru-chan, it's one or the other," Hunny said, continuing to lick the lollipop. "Or we could bind and gag Tama-chan. It's your call."

She considered. "Hmm. You actually have rope on you, sempai?"

"Well, we could improvise…"

Mori finally spoke. "Tamaki. Why did Hikaru give in?"

The host king froze. "Well… he came to his senses, of course!"

"More like lost them." Haruhi resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. Usually she was indifferent to his rambling, but after how embarrassing he'd been all day, she thought that a few good whacks were in order. "Tamaki-sempai, you're the only one who thinks that. Everybody else is wondering whether Hikaru ate something funny or inhaled some paint fumes."

"Maybe Hika-chan wanted a punching bag," Hunny offered.

"Yeah… that actually seems kind of likely… except for the fact that he hasn't strangled Tamaki-sempai yet…"

"So you think he doesn't love me?" Tamaki asked them in a small voice.

Hunny's lips turned down into a frown. "Now I feel bad," he told Haruhi. "We didn't have to burst his bubble. It was a nice bubble."

"We're not saying that, Tamaki-sempai," Haruhi said hurriedly. "I think… well, I'm going to look at it from a positive light. Hikaru had a reason. He wouldn't just cave like that for nothing... I'd like to think that maybe you're right and he does like you. But he _does _twitch an awful lot when he's around you. I just wonder why, sometimes… well…"

"So… he doesn't love me?" Tamaki repeated, looking like a kicked puppy. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that he loves me? Am I that unlovable?"

Haruhi groaned again. She looked up again at Mori. "Help," she said in a tiny voice.

Mori cleared his throat. "We were just wondering how you could strengthen your love with Hikaru by knowing exactly why he told you he loves you," he said.

Why was it that when Mori said the most ridiculous lines, he could look completely convincing?

Well, it worked, anyway. Tamaki lit up.

"He's… shining," Haruhi muttered, shielding her eyes.

"Yes… yes, I see your point! This… this soul-searching will only help our blooming relationship!" Tamaki was nodding furiously. "Every rose has roots! We must check these roots to keep the flower of our adoration healthy! OUR LOVE SHALL CREATE MOONBEAMS THAT WILL SURROUND THE WORLD IN A GOLDEN GLOW!"

A flock of birds flew away as he struck a triumphant pose.

"…I don't know which is worse, this or his pathetic sulking," Haruhi sighed. She glanced at Hunny. "Is that offer to bind and gag him still standing?"

* * *

Guilt was not an alien concept to Hikaru. He'd felt it often enough, considering how many regrettable things he'd done and said. But he was the type to push feelings out of the way and usually he was successful—after getting to level ten or killing the boss in a new video game, it was kind of hard to focus on anything else.

So whatever Kyouya said didn't matter all that much to him. Besides, it wasn't like he was doing it to be mean or anything.

And as for his body, well, that didn't matter all that much anyway. A kiss? So what? He was hotter than Venus, as far as he was concerned, so it was no surprise that people would want a piece of him. As long as the other party was hot too—lucky for Tamaki, he was pretty easy on the eyes.

But talk was a different thing.

"Hey, Hikaru," Tamaki said one day, as they were sitting in a café together. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"Well… why did you change your mind so suddenly? Did the power of my love really successfully reach you?"

Hikaru nearly spat out his root beer float but managed to choke it down, setting the glass on the table with shaky hands. "Don't say stuff like that in public," he hissed, trying to ignore the giggling of some nearby girls who'd apparently overheard them. Damn it.

"Because I feel sometimes like you're not one hundred percent here."

"I'm here, where else would I be?" Hikaru snorted. "Milord, I don't think you really get what kind of person I am. I can be your boyfriend, sure, but if you expect me to go around wearing matching outfits with you…"

He stopped at the starry-eyed look on the blonde's face and nearly groaned in frustration. Oh great. He just _had _to go on giving him ideas. "…which I'll never do, by the way, so stop looking at me like a sick puppy."

"It would look cute," Tamaki coaxed him in his sweetest tones. As if that would ever work on Hikaru, who remained unmoved.

"You're a blonde, I'm a redhead. Our color schemes clash."

"Real gentlemen look good in everything."

"No, real gentlemen know what looks good on them and what doesn't." Then Hikaru paused. "But I _do _look good in everything." He paused again. "But that doesn't mean I'd ever agree towearing matching clothes with you, so don't even think about it."

"You match with Kaoru."

"First of all, you're not Kaoru, and secondly, that's not true. Kaoru and I do match sometimes, but we actually like to dress separately. It means double the outfits we wear, and of course that means double the outfits we look good in. You, on the other hand, won't give me any insight as to whether I'd look great in something or not."

"But you're avoiding the topic, Hikaru…"

He sighed. "Are you trying to give me The Talk? Haruhi warned me this might happen."

He'd known that he'd sunk to an all-time low when the cross-dressing former object of his affections had come to him with love advice. Seriously. When someone like _Haruhi_ was trying to help him out with his relationship… "Because we don't need The Talk. Really, we don't."

"What's The Talk?"

"The Talk is supposed to be this big touchy-feely conversation where we try to define our relationship or something… anyway, I zoned out after Haruhi said a lot of crap about 'finding each other's emotions', so I don't really know much past that."

"Do you really like me, Hikaru?" Tamaki asked, looking at him intently.

Hikaru looked at him. "You're asking me now?"

"I know I'm a substitute, but…"

"Huh?" Now there was something unexpected. Substitute?

"I mean for Kaoru," the sophomore said, looking down. "I _am _the 'next Kaoru', right? And then I just dragged you along at my own pace, deciding on my own that we need to fall in love." Then he paused. "Though we really were meant to, you know."

"Jeez. Why bother saying all that stuff if you were going to have a follow-up like that? You're not Kaoru, no one could ever substitute for my little brother, and you don't even have red hair." Hikaru's eyes were tired and he drained his drink. He spoke in a monotone. "I like you, I like you, I like you. Are you happy now?"

Tamaki caught his hand, and Hikaru made no move to wrench it away."You're not just saying that?"

"Do you want me to graffiti it all over the school?"

"I just want to know if you mean it."

Hikaru scrubbed at his face, ignoring the mental warning that tugging at his skin like that was going to cause wrinkles. He really needed to stop listening to Kaoru. "What's your childhood trauma anyway? I mean, can't you stop trying to make me profess my undying devotion for you every single second of the day?"

"I only ask because it's so ugly like this."

Hackles immediately rose. "I'm not ugly!"

"I didn't say you were!" And he didn't, but it wasn't entirely true. Around someone like Tamaki, whose looks were so different in Japan that it was impossible not to stop and stare, many forgot just how beautiful Hikaru was. When he'd first met the twins, he'd thought them good-looking little lambs that needed saving and a new hairstyle (those pudding-bowl cuts were horrendous). Cute, obnoxious, and unpredictable.

Now, though, Hikaru had developed into someone who could make his breath hitch in his throat. He didn't have conventional good looks, but he burned with an energy that infused something rare and stunning into his skin. Where Kaoru was softer, more subtle in his charm, Hikaru wielded his beauty like a weapon without even knowing it.

When he was with him, though, the redhead was listless, the aureate eyes going flat with something being held back.

Hikaru stood up. "Look, I don't have time for this. I don't know what's working in your head or even if your head's working at all, but I have to get going. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"At least let me send you back."

Hikaru shook his head. "Nah. My driver's hanging around waiting not that far from here." Tamaki watched him leave with a frown.

* * *

Hikaru stopped dead as the window rolled down before he could climb into the car. "Mom?"

"Hello dear," she said, kissing his cheek as their driver opened the door for him. He slid in, frowning. "How was your date—day?"

"I already heard the slip of the tongue," he said sourly as the car smoothly slid into motion. "Kaoru told you, didn't he?"

Kaoru was much closer to his mother than he was, as the younger twin was more inclined to spend time designing. They were both in the business, it was true, but everyone—including himself—acknowledged that Kaoru had more flair and a lot more patience. On the other hand, he had been pleased to discover that his math skills were great at keeping the accounts straight. On the other, other hand, Kaoru liked to tease him about him getting the 'boring' job, saying that Hikaru would get old and gray before his time bent over their books.

"Yes, Kaoru told me, seeing as you couldn't be bothered to." He flinched at the subtle reproach, but she softened it with a little smile. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't really pry, but humor me anyway. I'm your mom. I'm supposed to be irritating and embarrassing."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine, ask questions. Or can I just go for option b and face a firing squad instead?"

"Sorry, no, you'll have to suffer slow torture. No quick and easy death for you. So you've gotten a boyfriend too?"

"Yes. And just checking beforehand, is this going to become some spiel about how at least one of us needs to produce little Hitachiin babies for the future of our evil corporation? 'Cause babies creep me out anyway. Their heads are so big and their bodies are so small. I mean, doesn't anyone else find that weird?"

Her eyes twinkled with a mixture of mirth and worry. Hikaru's wit was, inevitably, barbed. "No, Hikaru, that wouldn't exactly be fair to you. We never objected to Kaoru's relationship with Kyouya-kun—"

"—and I really don't get why, seeing as he's like, the devil incarnate and Kaoru's the golden child—"

She frowned. "Kaoru is _not _the golden child, you're both adorable and I have no idea why you both have such terrible inferiority complexes. He thinks that _you're _the favorite because you're the more outgoing twin."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "So what is this all about anyway? You wouldn't show up for nothing." He held up a hand. "I'm not saying you're a bad mom. You're busy. We get that, and we didn't exactly suffer for it." His lips parted into a smug grin. "Though I can't say the same for all the people who we put in straitjackets."

"Tell me about your boyfriend," she said with quiet insistence.

He paused. "He's blonde, pretty, and a year ahead of me at Ouran. He's also enormously annoying and cries all the time. Remember our club president?"

"Vaguely," she said with a nod. "Tall, good proportions, half-French, could be a model… the Suoh boy?"

"Exactly. You'll love him."

"I'm not worried about whether _I _will love him, Hikaru. But what about _you_?"

He stared out the window. "Why does everyone get so hung up on whether I'm fawning all over him or not? Him, you, Kaoru, the entire student body—no one can believe that I like him."

Yuzuha looked at him thoughtfully. "I can't disagree with you on how I'm never around, but when I am I do take the time to notice you and Kaoru."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning when I look at Kaoru, I can see how happy he is with Kyouya-kun. He has… a glow, of sorts."

"That's just residual hellfire sticking to his skin, mom. It's a sign that he's slowly being turned over to the dark side."

She suppressed a smile. "I want you to be happy, Hikaru."

He turned golden eyes at her. "Do you want Kaoru to be happy too?"

"Yes, of course." She frowned at him as their car pulled to a stop in front of the Hitachiin estates. "How can you even ask me that question?"

His mouth twisted into a grin. "Then leave it alone. Kaoru's happy… and I'm fine." He reached out and opened the door, bounding off. "Peachy keen and a-okay."

She sighed as she watched him speed into the house. "But not happy."

* * *

"Tamaki?"

He looked up. "Kyouya. What are you doing here?"

"Just finished a business lunch," the Shadow King replied, taking the seat across his—that explained the pathetic whimpers and blubbering coming from the private room. Apparently he had destroyed yet another CEO. Tamaki half-expected him to smile and reveal fangs dripping with blood. "You're by yourself?"

"Hikaru just left." He didn't miss the slight flicker in the other boy's eyes. They weren't best friends for nothing. "Why do you hate him so much, Kyouya?"

"I don't dislike Hikaru, although he certainly makes that a difficult feat to accomplish. No, I just don't think that you're in love with him, Tamaki. You're deluded."

The blonde looked insulted. "What are you talking about? Of course I adore him!"

"You used to think you were in love with Haruhi."

"She has Mori-sempai. Besides, I kissed Hikaru, not her."

Kyouya adjusted his glasses. "To say that you're in love merely because you kissed makes no sense. Haruhi's first kiss was with a girl, and you never seemed to think that she had to marry the said customer just because their lips touched."

"Th-that's…"

"If Kaoru had been with someone else, and I really loved him, that wouldn't matter to me. I would fight for him." And probably kidnap him, imprison him somewhere, and then brainwash him until the feeling was mutual. What Kyouya wanted, Kyouya got.

"I… I fought for Hikaru…"

"But your reasons for fighting for him weren't the right ones. What if it hadn't been Hikaru that you'd kissed, Tamaki? Do you think it's that easy to fall in love with someone?"

"B…but…"

"I'll tell you a secret," Kyouya said with a tiny, brittle smile at the irony of it all as he leaned close. "My first kiss wasn't with Kaoru."

"WHAT? MOTHER, YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING AROUND BEHIND YOUR BOYFRIEND'S BACK? OH, THE HORROR—"

Kyouya looked ready to snap his neck. "Think of where you are, you imbecile," he muttered, ignoring the staring from the people around them.

He lowered his voice. "Who… who was it, Kyouya?"

"I assure you that you don't want to know, Tamaki," the Shadow King said. If he told him, Tamaki would probably go hang himself. Or blab to Hikaru, in which case the redhead would go hang both of them.

Tamaki pondered over the options. What if, that time at Karuizawa… when he'd walked in on Kyouya and Haruhi…?

His eyes widened. "YOU WERE FIDDLING WITH OUR BELOVED DAUGHTER? I'M SO ASHAMED—"

"I'm going to kill you," muttered Kyouya as even more people stared and whispered, with their eyes saying that they wouldn't put rape and incest past a guy who looked like him.

Well, to be fair, he did look quite scary with the murderous expression on his face.

Tamaki blushed and rephrased. "Was it Haruhi?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "I think that my gender preference makes it obvious that Haruhi is not in my strike zone, Tamaki."

"Then—"

The black-haired sophomore's tone was quiet but explosive. "Do. Not. Guess." _Or else._

Tamaki tilted his head to one side. "Why didn't you fall in love with that person, then?"

Kyouya shook his head. "Not all kisses mean something, Tamaki."

"But a kiss… a kiss is a symbol of love! Only people in love kiss!"

"You're such a child, Tamaki. Do you think that every actor who has to kiss someone onscreen is in love with his costar? Or that a man who kisses his wife but has a mistress is really in love?" He adjusted his glasses.

"As far as I'm concerned… I could kiss a million people, but I'd only _want _to kiss one, and stay with one, and live with one, and share everything I have with one. And that's the person I'm in love with." Kyouya cleared his throat. It wasn't him to be so expressive. "And if you ever attempt to convince people that I said such things no one will believe you." He looked wearily at his best friend. "I know you, Tamaki. You aren't as stupid as you pretend to be—and I'm waiting for the day that you stop hiding behind that defense mechanism. Doing ridiculous things and allowing yourself to be played with won't make the bad things go away."

Tamaki swallowed hard. This, sometimes, was what made it so hard to be Kyouya's best friend: he could see into him. "So what are you saying, Kyouya?"

He shrugged. "All I'm saying is that you should think over your position well, Tamaki. Don't make a mistake."

* * *

Chairman Suoh Yuzuru was humming as he practically skipped into the second Suoh mansion, where his son currently resided. The thought made his lips turn down for a moment—he couldn't wait until his mother caved and let him stay in the first residence with them—but he quashed the thought.

"Tamaki," he sang out, eager to play a new trick on his son. "Daddy's here!"

"Living room, sir," one of the passing maids told him. He promptly marched over there and saw a blond figure huddled on the couch.

"Tamaki?" He frowned, all thoughts of games disappearing from his head. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Father," Tamaki said, looking up. "I didn't know you were visiting today."

Yuzuru's mouth pursed into a frown. "Do I need an excuse to be with my only son? How cruel, Tamaki! Daddy doesn't like how cold you're being!"

…well, now it was apparent where Tamaki had gotten his ridiculous notions on parenthood with Haruhi.

"You look like you're in need of some advice," he said, relenting a little. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Tamaki bit his lip. "Father… what if… I were in love with someone?"

The Chairman's eyebrows rose. "You finally told Haruhi-chan, didn't you?"

"What? No! Haruhi already has a boyfriend."

His eyebrows rose higher. "And you're planning to break them up? It looks like daddy needs to teach you how not to be a homewrecker… or at least not get caught…"

"No!" he said, voice rising into a wail. "It's someone else!"

"Who is it?" Yuzuru asked.

"Not telling," Tamaki sulked. "You'll just tease the one I like anyway."

Yuzuru opened his mouth to say no (a total lie), but then he caught the stubborn set of his son's lips. He sighed. He knew that look very well; Tamaki's mother had worn it whenever she had set her mind on something. It always meant that Yuzuru had better agree with her decision fast, or he would sleep on the couch that night. "Fine," he said grudgingly. "Then what's the problem?"

"Kyouya said that I don't love that person for the right reasons," Tamaki mumbled.

"Kyouya-kun is a very wise young man," the Chairman said with a little smile. "Usually whatever he says is true. But it isn't like him to meddle in someone else's feelings. Is there any particular reason why he would say that?"

Tamaki quickly outlined his theory on love and kissing and how the person he liked seemed to be unhappy with their relationship, and the Chairman was hard-pressed not to laugh. His son really was an idiot sometimes, but that was what made him so charming. "Okay…" he said, fighting to keep his face and tone straight. "I see his point."

"So… you think I should just… let this go?"

"It's a thought, Tamaki. You're just playing what that person's feelings. But I'm shocked that the lady in question even responded to you, given the situation. She seems to have quite a personality from what you've told me." He pondered it. "I think… probably she loves you. I can't think of another reason why she would act the way you said she did. But you don't return her feelings, not from what I understand. You think you _have _to love her, and that's terrible to a person, to know that you're loved because of an obligation."

"So what do I do?"

Yuzuru smiled gently. "Well, Tamaki… if you aren't serious about her, you have to break it off. It's for the best, and ultimately kinder."

The blonde bit his lip. Yuzuru was right. It was only fair that he back off. After all, had he not told Hikaru and Kaoru back in the day that it was the utmost cruelty to play with a maiden's pure heart? It would be better if tomorrow, he just went to Hikaru and told him that it was enough…

An image of the cocksure smile on the freshman's face as he had walked out of the vice-chairman's office flashed briefly through his head. Of Hikaru leaning over him, wickedly telling him that he loved making Tamaki cry. Of a redhead who hated showing feelings, standing up on his chair in the cafeteria, in front of the whole school, and yelling at people that _yes, they were together!_

The whole time, he'd just been hurting Hikaru. And yet… "But father… even if it's for the best… even if it's kinder… _it's too hard._ And I don't understand why it would be so hard for me to walk away…"

The Chairman's eyes widened momentarily before his smile morphed into a full-fledged grin. "Well, Tamaki… even if you did start it for the wrong reasons, you can always make them right."

Tamaki nodded slowly. "I think I understand. I have to think about this some more."

"Okay. We'll take a raincheck on dinner. You have to focus on your problem first." He patted his son on the head, regretting slightly that he hadn't managed to feed him some new cock-and-bull story. But Tamaki… Tamaki was growing up, and he couldn't be prouder. "Oh, and do you want some advice that'll really make your lover happy?"

"What?" Tamaki asked hopefully.

"Don't wail so much, son." He smirked. "I know it's part of your character to bursts into floods of tears or squeal at random strangers, but tone it down. Be a man."

On his way out he opened his phone and dialed his mother. "You'll never believe how much Tamaki has matured," he said cheerfully. "He's even in love now! Ah, being at that age…" He frowned. "No. Yes. I called because I think it's about time he's let into the main house." His frown deepened. "Yes, I'm sure. Is that so? Well, we'll see. I'm sure that the girl in question is perfectly suitable. I trust Tamaki's judgment. You'll have no complaints."

* * *

"Five… four… three… two…" The president of Class 1-A smirked as Tamaki just went into their class as usual. The entire class could already predict exactly when he would appear, down to the last second.

There was something unusually subdued about the Host King that day, though. He was frowning as he walked in—_walked, not bounced._ The usual hum of voices in the room softened to whispers as he approached Hikaru, the only one who seemed impervious to the gossip; the redhead was hidden behind a manga, his twin off somewhere probably having an early morning conversation with Kyouya.

"Hikaru."

Hikaru emerged from behind the pages. "Oh, it's you," he said. "I didn't realize without your usual decibel level."

"We need to talk."

At once, a buzz rose in the room as the younger boy stared up at him, dumbfounded. Those four words were the classic prelude to…

_That asshole, I didn't even like him and he's dumping me?_ With a glare at the people around them—honestly, could they be any more obvious while eavesdropping?—he slid out of his chair and started out the door. "So, where are you taking me?"

"Let's go up to the roof."

Ouran High School being what it was, of course their rooftop was nothing like an ordinary academy's; there was a rooftop garden and Hikaru noted that it was blooming with white roses that day. White roses for purity… and eternal love. It also meant 'I am worthy of you'.

According to Victorian flower language anyway. In hanakotoba, or Japanese flower language, they meant innocence and devotion. He snorted to himself. Stupid Kaoru and his stupid girly habit of knowing the meaning of all flowers—then again, he had to admit that it came in handy for the club.

_A yellow carnation for rejection. Morning glories for love in vain._

And it was so typical of Tamaki to pick a setting like that for their huge, dramatic break-up scene. "Well?" he asked. "Judging by the constipated look on your face, whatever you have to say is pretty damn important. And there were too many idiots listening in down there. So shoot already. I have to get back before sensei comes in."

Tamaki gave him a small smile. "I… was doing a lot of thinking yesterday… you know, after our conversation. I keep thinking that maybe you actually don't like me, Hikaru."

Hikaru's eyebrows shot up. "Okay… I kept telling you that in the beginning and that sank in _now_?"

The blonde cringed. "You mean you still don't like me?"

"Well… no, that wasn't exactly what I…" he hedged.

"I don't really blame you for that."

The look on Tamaki's face… _Oh my God, he really _is _going to dump me. I'm going to kill him. I can't believe he's going to dump me when—_

"Because I talked to Kyouya after you left."

Hikaru's eyebrows were finding new heights in the depths of his hair. "And… he sacrificed you to his altar of evil? He accused you of doing strange things with goats? He decided to make you the subject of his top-secret zombie virus project which he plans on using to take over the world?"

"He has one?"

"Oh no, now that you know he's going to kill you," Hikaru deadpanned. "Didn't we all discuss this last time?"

Tamaki flushed. "Stop sidetracking me, Hikaru."

"I can't help it. You're really easy to distract. You've got the attention span of a flea." The redhead was aware that he was babbling, trying to buy time to think. _It's actually the best thing possible if he dumps me. I tried to play the good brother by doing what Kaoru wanted, but if he doesn't want me…_ He wasn't in love with Tamaki, but he still wanted to help Kaoru no matter what; besides, he had his pride, and it was pretty damn insulting to be dumped flat on his ass when he was the one who had been so unwilling to be in the relationship in the first place.

"Kyouya made me realize that I was actually really stupid."

Hikaru let out a short laugh. "I can't believe that after so many years of being stupid, this is the first time you found out."

Tamaki ignored his comment. "Because I kept thinking that I wanted to be in a relationship with you, but it was for all the wrong reasons. They were idiotic and naïve."

"Color me surprised—two perfect adjectives for you." Hikaru sighed. "Cut to the chase already. I'm sick of this. It's not like I don't already know what you're going to say, and I've got things to do and pranks to pull." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Look, so you go your way and I go mine, we'll stay friends, hopefully with no residual weirdness between us—"

"I'm saying that I've already decided that I'm serious about you," Tamaki finished. "Look. I said that it was in the rules of love that once we kiss we're meant to be together forever and it was stupid. But… that's not it anymore. I'm not going to keep using that as a reason. I'm going to love you because I want to. Because I want _you._"

Hikaru nearly slid to the ground in surprise. Staring, he unthinkingly blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Are you some kind of masochist?"

Tamaki laughed. "Probably," he admitted, "considering that after everything you said while I was talking, I still managed to say that. But I guess that I was taking your feelings lightly. I just kept justifying our relationship based on just one kiss."

He smiled, recalling his idiocy. Hikaru was silent, seemingly waiting for him to go on, so Tamaki continued. "I guess you only decided to give me a chance when you saw that I wouldn't give up, right? And I really won't. I _can't._ I think that the more I stuck with you… the more I realized that even if we hadn't kissed like that, you're still someone I could fall in love with. Someone I already _have _fallen in love with."

"Th…that's…"

And the look on his face made Hikaru want to laugh and cry at the same time because he really meant what he was saying. This wasn't something that he could shake his head at and dismiss as pure Tamaki absurdity. Whatever Kyouya had told him, it seemed to have had some kind of effect because Hikaru could tell that he had actually thought it over.

"I didn't start for the right reasons, but I'm staying because of them." His hand reached out tenderly to stroke Hikaru's cheek. "I'm serious about you, Hikaru."

Hikaru swallowed hard. _But I'm not._

* * *

His mind was working overtime as they held hands on the way back down the stairs. _I can't do this, _he thought desperately. It was one thing to indulge Tamaki when he knew that the host king had just been… well, trying to live a fairy tale. But that wasn't the way it was anymore. This was _real._ Here, someone could get seriously hurt.

His hand unconsciously tightened on Tamaki's as his thoughts wheeled wildly in his mind. Everyone made fun of Tamaki, it was true, and that included the host club; but was there a single one of them who wouldn't die for him if the occasion demanded it?

He recalled the time that the Journalism Club had made the fatal mistake of messing with their host king. It was probably _because _he was so naïve that they all felt so protective of him. And to be honest… Hikaru was no exception.

Tamaki was stupid, but he was right in saying that his mom would have loved him, because that was exactly what the boy was: lovable.

He had a sinking feeling that Kyouya had been right. He shouldn't even have started the whole charade in the first place. There had to be other ways. He could just sit down and talk to Kaoru, maybe kill Kyouya or something…

His throat constricted as they stopped in front of his classroom and Tamaki kissed his cheek. The teacher was already inside, but he ignored it; so what if he was tardy? It wasn't exactly the blackest mark on his (extremely) bad record anyway. "Look, milord… I…"

He was cut off as another double set of footsteps came from down the hallway, and involuntarily he looked up. Actually, he didn't even have to look to know who it was; one of them sounded just like his own pace. His brow furrowed when he saw the strained expression on his brother's face as their eyes met.

"What is it, Hikaru?" Tamaki asked, directing his attention back to the situation at hand. "You look pale. Are you feeling all right?"

The look on Kaoru's face…

Kyouya was saying something. They were still a distance away so that he couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see the way that Kaoru inhaled sharply, the sudden set of his jaw as the Shadow King's hand carded through his hair.

His hands clenched into fists as the other couple murmured to each other. Yes, he would have died for Tamaki, just the way all of them would have; but Kaoru… Kaoru he would live for. Even if it meant that the life would be spent with someone he didn't want. He turned away.

"It's nothing," he said quietly, opening the door and hating himself. "I'll see you later."

* * *

Kaoru let out a little sigh when he and Kyouya stopped at the corner just around his classroom. "The bell's about to ring," Kyouya said. "So don't make that face… I don't want you to be late."

"Oh, like it's only me," Kaoru said with a smirk, hands already moving to check if his tie was properly in place and all his buttons were fastened. Kyouya, damn it, was all perfection as usual. How did he always manage to stay so neat when Kaoru usually emerged from their… _encounters_… looking like… well, like he'd just had an _encounter._ "You have to maintain that perfect student reputation after all." He waited for a response but after a beat or two, looked up to see what his boyfriend was looking at.

"Ah… looks like milord and Hikaru decided to take an early morning stroll too," he said lightly. He saw the blonde bend down to place a gentle kiss on his brother's cheek. Instinctively, he glanced at Kyouya's face and saw a muscle jumping in his jaw. "Sempai?"

"I thought he'd already come to his senses," the Shadow King muttered, shaking his head. "I… have never… seen him with that look in his eyes before. That idiot doesn't know what he's doing."

"There's nothing wrong with the two of them being together," Kaoru countered. "I mean—if they're both happy, then what does it matter, right? You said yourself that you've never seen him with that look in his eyes before. "

The words fell so naturally from the sophomore's lips. "Because Hikaru doesn't deserve Tamaki, not like this."

_Then who does?_

He bit his tongue, even though he knew that if anyone deserved anything, everything that he'd ever wanted, it would be Kyouya. Not to mention if anyone could actually _get _everything he'd ever wanted. He inhaled. "That's my brother you're talking about," he said, fighting to keep his tone neutral.

Not neutral enough, apparently, because Kyouya's gaze shifted from the other two to Kaoru. Whatever it was that he saw in his redheaded boyfriend's expression made him draw Kaoru close. "I know. I apologize," he said, reaching out a hand to touch the younger boy's hair. Kaoru found himself leaning into his hand. It was surprisingly warm, considering that the Shadow King looked like he had ice water flowing through his veins.

"Sempai…"

"But on this point I'm not yielding," Kyouya finished. "I can't let Hikaru do this to him." Kaoru jerked away, frowning.

Dreading Kyouya's answer, Kaoru finally asked, "Why?"

There was a pause before the Shadow King spoke. "I have my reasons, Kaoru. Don't worry about it."

"What do you mean, 'don't worry about it'?" Kaoru fired back. "Of course I worry about it, because—"

Silence. "Yes?" Kyouya prompted. For the first time in months, Kaoru found himself trying to search for Kyouya's expression behind the light flashing off his glasses. Kyouya never used that trick on him anymore—he only did it when he wanted to conceal something or appear threatening, and since they'd gotten together…

"Don't do that," Kaoru said, touching his glasses. It was a sign of how close they were that the Shadow King allowed him to slip them off so that he was looking at the older boy's naked gaze. He shivered.

"Then what were you about to say? Why are you so worried?"

"Because… because Hikaru's my brother," he sputtered. "I love my twin, in case you haven't realized that."

"I have realized that, Kaoru."

Kaoru waited. "So let's be candid, then."

Kyouya seemed to be debating something inside his head. It was only for a fraction of a second, and probably no one else would have been able to tell, but Kaoru could. "It's irrelevant."

"Just tell me already," Kaoru said. "I really hate how you keep dragging this out when you could just say whatever it is that you're thinking."

"What I'm thinking is that Tamaki's my best friend, and I don't want to see him hurt."

"You think Hikaru would hurt him?"

Kyouya nodded. "He may not intend to, but… I don't know, Kaoru. And when Hikaru does—if he does," he amended, seeing the raised eyebrows on his boyfriend's face. "I'll need to be prepared so I can pick up the pieces."

"Pick them up how?" Kaoru asked. He bumped his hip playfully against the older boy's. "No hugging him better, okay?"

"Your sensei's coming," Kyouya said suddenly, taking his hand back. "Kaoru…"

"I don't really care—"

"You'll be late."

"So let them think that you and I were making out in some random broom closet. They'll all jump to that conclusion anyway."

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that you'd stopped reading Harry Potter fanfiction."

"Sempai."

The Shadow King kissed his cheek. "Tempting as it sounds to really drag you off to a broom closet…"

Kaoru snorted. "I always knew that you were only after my body."

Kyouya smiled back. "The fact that you're hot doesn't hurt, Kaoru. But don't even joke about it… I love you. You are aware of this fact?"

"Yeah… I know. We're going to talk about this later?"

"I can think of a lot of more interesting things you could do with that pretty mouth rather than discuss your homicidal twin's relationship with my best friend," Kyouya said lightly. "I'll see you later."

Which, of course, translated from Kyouya-speak into normal Japanese, meant no.

* * *

"Whoa," both Hitachiins said in unison when they caught sight of each other when Kaoru walked into the room (a few minutes late, but really, the expression on his face made the sensei bite back the sarcastic remark that she was about to make).

"What happened to you?" Hikaru asked warily. "You look like your moron just died."

"Don't call him that," Kaoru said. It was a reflex response by now. "Kyouya-sempai is not a moron."

"Never said it was him."

Kaoru kicked him as he slid into his seat. "Shut up."

"Nice comeback."

The younger twin shot him a death glare. "I'm not sure why you don't know what the meaning of 'shut up' is, but I'm pretty sure that my dictionary can help…"

Hikaru immediately inched away. "Put the Hitachiin weapon of the week down, Kaoru… it's a new week, anyway, shouldn't we be moving on to scissors?" Seeing his brother start to root through his bag, he put in, "Or cotton, cotton's a pretty good weapon… what happened?"

"Nothing."

"Did you and four-eyes have a fight or something?"

"Sempai and I don't fight. Ever."

"So what happens when you guys have problems?"

Kaoru looked at him and rolled his eyes. "We. Don't. Have. Problems."

Hikaru watched him carefully. "Now why do I not believe that?"

"Wishful thinking. You're dying for me and sempai to fight so that we'll break up," Kaoru replied, rolling his eyes before he changed the subject. "Speaking of problems, what's up with you? Now _you _look like _your_ moron just exploded in your face."

Hikaru frowned. "That's actually a pretty accurate summary."

There was a beat before Kaoru groaned out, "_Please _tell me you didn't blow up milord. _Please._ Remember the cardinal rule? No murder because it's a pain to cover up!" His mind was already racing. "I already threw away your missile launcher from last Christmas…"

"Nah. Even if I wanted to he's kind of like a cockroach… his kind survive even the nuclear holocaust." Hikaru put his head on his desk and filled him in on what happened.

Kaoru nodded, digesting the events for a while before he finally spoke. "I agree, he's a masochist."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "So. Not. The Point."

"But come on, Hikaru, what are you moaning about? You agreed to be in a relationship with him in the first place… you should be running around with a lovesick puppy-dog look on your face now that he's a hundred percent crazy about you for reasons unrelated to his warped thought process. You're lucky that he only thinks about you. You have no idea."

The more Kaoru spoke, the more certain Hikaru was that what he had done was the right thing. "So you _were _fighting with sempai."

"Was not! Now how the hell did you draw that kind of conclusion from what I said?"

"I can read between the lines. It's like I'm psychic."

"More like psychotic," snorted Kaoru, swatting at him.

"Hitachiin Hikaru! Hitachiin Kaoru!" the teacher finally yelled, exasperated. "Could you please keep your voices down?"

Hikaru glared at their sensei. "Sorry, no," he said, grabbing Kaoru by the arm. "Kaoru's not feeling well so we're off." Ignoring their teacher's protests and threats (and Haruhi's you're-definitely-going-to-regret-this-when-your-grades-drop glare of doom), he pulled his brother out the door along with him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kaoru asked wearily.

"Cutting class, what do you think?"

"I'm really not in the mood for this. We'll get in so much trouble."

"Look. I get that hanging out with that cradle-snatching freak—"

"He's only a year older, what are you babbling about?"

"—is making you old and saggy too, but if you're not in the mood for this, I really don't think that you're in the mood for listening to some old hag lecture on stuff that a genius like you already knows." He slung an arm around his brother's waist. "Come on, Kaoru. It'll be like old times."

"Just like old times? So I take it that about now we'd be pulling the fire alarms…"

"Yeah, actually," Hikaru said, casually flipping the first alarm they passed. Kaoru let out a squeak of horror as a loud wailing noise filled the halls and students began filing out of their classrooms. Hikaru grinned at the look on his face. "Look, Kaoru… you can rely on me, okay? I made you really unhappy in the past, I know, but it's different now. I'm going to protect you."

* * *

A/N: So this is kind of a filler chapter... but anyway, comments would be much appreciated. I've got a rough idea of what I'd like to do in the next chapter, and remember, more reviews, faster updates.

Thanks so much for reading this far!


	5. StartStop

A/N: I've missed updating this story so much! Okay, please, please don't skip right to the plot even though this rather long and scary author's notes may put you off, as I have some things to say.

Firstly: my 300 gb external hard drive got stolen (along with 8gb and 2gb usbs). On it were the drafts of about six chapters' worth of NaF, three oneshots that I was going to post after the completion of the story (one in fulfillment of Aisu Dragoness's request for a Sick!Kaoru and Nursemaid!Kyouya, one going into the dating life of two characters, and one on Hikaru's first taste of working in the fashion world). I can't even begin to explain how horrified and hurt I was at what happened...

The long and short of this is that I'll probably take quite a while to even begin to recover from the loss. I've started trying to reconstruct the rough outlines that I'd had, but of course I can't remember everything I wrote. It's really sad, as I wrote them when I was feeling witty, and now... well, I'll just have to hope that I'm struck by a funny mood once again.

Anyway. I had the incredible good luck of sending a very, very brief outline to one of my good friends, and it's thanks to her that I didn't give up on this story. It's also her birthday month this August.

This is a really rough chapter, as I just dashed it off. I hope that it's still okay with you guys. I make take a while to update, but I'll try my very best to work on it, especially once my midterms are out of the way. I love you guys, after all, so here's my thank-yous for the last chapter: Always a Bookworm, Aisu Dragoness, xRose Petals, Rouge, Flacks, Full-Empty-Spirit, Frozen Obsidian, Nikata-chan6, gaahhh, porcelainanimals, tokyorain06, fyr3 pho3nix, iPercy, HikaruKaoruandHaruhi, and Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaw. You are all lovely, wonderful reviewers!

* * *

Chapter Four: Start/Stop

"I don't know who told you that singing such disgustingly sentimental songs was appropriate during study sessions, but I am going to track that person down and kill him."

"Sing with me, Kyouya! Let's be happy together and dance and play and—"

Kyouya twitched. Only one person was fool enough to say such things. And to him, of all people. Unfortunately, that one person was also the only one who could get away with it. "Tamaki, we've been here for two hours already and the only thing you've written down for your essay is Tamaki+Hikaru 4 Ever. May I remind you that if you wish for my help, you had better ask it _now_ as I intend to go to Kaoru's house later? Moreover, if I were the sensei I would take one look at that, laugh, and then set it on fire before failing you."

"Of course you wouldn't!" Tamaki said in his 'you-are-not-going-to-mess-up-my-rosy-world' voice.

"Oh yes, of course not. I would hardly stop at such a merciful level. I'd set _you_ on fire too. And I'd do it slowly, so that I would char layer after layer of skin without actually killing you."

The half-French boy momentarily drooped. "You're so mean, mom. Considering we're both taking out the prettiest boys in town this weekend, I thought you'd be a little more cheerful. The court finds you guilty of being grumpy, Kyouya!"

Kyouya smiled thinly at him, eyes narrowed. "After you subjected me to your rendition of Miley Cyrus songs? No jury would convict me."

"But we've finally come to an understanding, Kyouya," the blonde said, eyes sparkling as he perked up again. "Hikaru loves me and I love him and the world is all beautiful and right and just!"

"… I'm not certain what dream world you live in, Tamaki, but I'm fairly sure that it's pink and populated by talking rabbits."

"And the air tastes like cotton candy!"

Kyouya rubbed his temples, feeling a migraine building. Then again, his head had started pounding the moment he'd set foot in his friend's house. "Tamaki, your beloved was the one who caused school to be dismissed early."

"They had no proof that that was Hikaru!"

"Oh no, except for the fingerprints," Kyouya deadpanned.

"But Hikaru said that they could be left over from the last time he pulled the alarm, so they had no choice but to agree with him."

"I'm starting to doubt your sanity in choosing to date someone who's pulled the fire alarm repeatedly for his personal enjoyment…" Then again he had always doubted Tamaki's sanity.

"Kaoru was with him, you know."

"It wasn't Kaoru," Kyouya said shortly. The look he shot Tamaki over his glasses seemed to say _Go ahead and try to argue with me on that, I dare you._ They both knew better anyway. He shut his notebook. "Tamaki… about your relationship with Hikaru…"

"Isn't it the greatest?"

"I would beg to differ, but Ootoris don't beg."

Tamaki huffed. "You're always picking on Hikaru when he's the—"

"The greatest thing since love was invented, yes, yes, you've used that horrible description numerous time already." Kyouya held up a hand. "Please… _enough._ Cease the mindless slobbering. I would like to remind you of the days when you and Hikaru thought that Kaoru and I were being 'cheesy', to quote you… and this is a hundred times worse." He sighed. "I just wanted to know if your tiny brain has processed the difficulties of such an involvement."

"What are you talking about? The hard part is over! It's all lovey-dovey bliss from here on in!"

The Shadow King twitched. His best friend had no survival skills whatsoever.

"What do you mean 'the hard part is over'?" He enunciated carefully, the words coming out crisp and angry.

Any sane man would have taken that as a warning sign, but Tamaki was obviously demented. "Well, isn't it?"

Kyouya erupted, slamming his hands down on the table. "Think of your position, Tamaki! You're the sole heir to the Suoh fortune… do you really think that your grandmother is going to accept a homosexual relationship? You haven't spared a single thought to what kind of future you're going to have by choosing this, or what your grandmother is going to say when she finds out. And she _will _find out, Tamaki."

Tamaki's huge grin faltered a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Of course your grandmother is having you watched," his best friend said in a tired voice. "And you haven't exactly been discreet about your situation. You don't even have a fallback plan if they choose to disinherit you."

"But that…"

"...isn't going to change, Tamaki." He sighed, reminding himself that it was not the idiot's fault that he was… well, an idiot. "Try to keep yourself in check… at least attempt to keep this low-profile. It would probably hurt Hikaru as well. He'd be ostracized by society, and certainly the Suoh family won't let him go without some form of censure…" He scowled. "Don't look at me like that, you're making me feel like I'm the villain taking away a child's favorite toy."

Tamaki finally nodded once, frowning. "What about you, Kyouya? Don't you ever worry about this sort of thing?"

"I have two older brothers," he pointed out. "My father didn't disinherit me because of that… but in a position like yours, you don't have that kind of luxury. Besides, even if they inherit the company I can take it back easily." What Kyouya wanted, Kyouya got. He was good enough to make anything possible.

Tamaki was different. He didn't have the skills to survive in an environment outside the one he'd grown up in. And Kyouya would be damned if he didn't at least try to stop Tamaki from throwing everything away over someone who might not even actually care for him.

"I have… actually discussed this with Hikaru previously," he said, recalling the conversation he and the older Hitachiin had had over the last holiday season, when the other hosts had trapped them in an elevator to settle their differences. "Not that either of us would discuss this with Kaoru. I've been trying to keep him away from this as much as possible. If I told him my concerns about you two he might start zeroing in on how those issues apply to us as well. And knowing Kaoru… well, he feels things very strongly. He's very sensitive. Plant an idea in his head and a thousand things will blossom from that single thought."

"He's stronger than you give him credit for."

Kyouya gritted his teeth. "I know that," he murmured. He was aware that he was being overly protective, in a way that he would not have extended to anyone else.

"And Kaoru hates being kept in the dark. You know that too."

"Tamaki, I have seen Kaoru cry once. I have no wish to repeat the experience. I've already vowed to myself to slowly torture anyone responsible for ever bringing tears to his eyes again… and I will _not _let it be me."

The blonde was quiet, but nodded. The Manipulative Pair's affection for each other was so obvious, so absolute, that questioning it—at all—was ridiculous to anyone.

He took off his glasses with a sigh. "To be honest I would not wish this sort of life on anyone. It is only that I'm an exception in this sort of situation… and quite frankly Tamaki you are not equipped to handle something like this."

Tamaki looked back at him. "Maybe I'm not, Kyouya. But…" He hesitated. "Do you remember what you said about me not really being in love with Haruhi?" The Shadow King nodded. "I could have been, and it was close, but I wasn't. I thought at the time that I was. But I can tell the difference now."

"Because you love Hikaru." Kyouya sighed resignedly. There had been something in the independent cross-dresser that had attracted Tamaki—attracted them all, really; even if he _was _gay, he'd been tempted to try and snare her in the past, more than once, and he knew that the entire Host Club would easily have fallen at her feet—but there was the one thing that Hikaru had that Haruhi didn't.

He needed Tamaki.

Haruhi had never indulged the blonde, yes, and that was probably what had made Tamaki so smitten in the first place, but she acted more like a big sister or a mother than a potential lover. Tamaki needed someone who not only refused to coddle him, but someone who would depend on him.

"I do admit that Hikaru has his… charms… and I understand the depth of your feelings for him. But with all the factors against you, Tamaki, are you certain that it's worth it?"

"Kyouya, if you were me, you wouldn't stop loving Kaoru."

The Shadow King snorted. "Tamaki, I am not you, and never will be. Which is a fact I'm thankful for."

"But you wouldn't."

"Kaoru and Hikaru are two very different—"

"You. _Wouldn't._"

Finally Kyouya nodded, pushing his glasses back on. "You're right. I wouldn't… and I can see that you're not going to either."

* * *

Kyouya was such a frequent visitor at the Hitachiin estate that no one paid him much attention now when he strolled around like he was right at home. Even the once-gushing maids had merely smiled and curtsied at him before continuing with their duties—well, _good;_ a few had been reading too many romance novels and fancied that they had a shot with the 'dashing, tall, dark and handsome rich heir' before Kyouya and Kaoru had promptly put those fantasies to rest with some extremely noisy activities in the younger boy's bedroom that had had Hikaru foaming at the mouth.

He bypassed the living room, where they frequently went to relax, ignored the kitchen where they occasionally had some cooking lessons, didn't so much as glance at the garden or the gym, and even breezed right past Kaoru's bedroom.

There was one place that his boyfriend went to when he was feeling especially depressed, angry or guilty. He figured that Kaoru must have been feeling especially distressed over their previous conversation—distressed enough not only to be unable to prevent his twin from executing a prank (if Kaoru had had a _real_ hand in their little stunt, they certainly wouldn't have gotten caught) but had also gotten involved in it as well.

Sure enough, when he opened the door to the Hitachiin atelier, a head of red hair was visible amongst stacks of papers and cloth samples.

He sighed as he stepped over to his boyfriend, who mumbled softly in his sleep as he pillowed his head in his arms. He would definitely get a stiff neck sleeping like that. Still, he was so adorable to see like this, he couldn't resist gently running a hand through his hair.

"You ridiculous creature," he murmured. "Why don't you ever let me hide the things that you don't need to worry your beautiful head about?"

The younger boy shifted slightly, and narrowly missed knocking a neat pile of new designs off the table. The Shadow King quickly rescued them, recognizing Kaoru's quick, clean strokes immediately as he studied them.

He had been the subject of enough of Kaoru's designs before to recognize himself on paper; the model was tall, lean and dark-haired and (he couldn't help preening a little) obviously drawn with care and a lot of detail. But something… something was just _wrong_, as was made obvious by Kaoru's frustrated scribbles around the actual design. He never actually crumpled and tossed away his failed efforts, since he maintained that they were useful for teaching him what _not _to do... so Kyouya could guess that the entire sheaf was Kaoru's unsuccessful labors for the afternoon.

He frowned, unable to place exactly what was wrong. Black, yes—it was hardly a radical choice of color, and he knew it suited him well; moreover, Kaoru had regularly designed him black items of clothing. And gold… well, he loved gold, for his own reasons. He knew that silver suited him better, and yet…

_Aha,_ he thought, setting it down, as he realized what was wrong.

"Mmm." A sleepy murmur jerked him out of his thoughts. "Sempai?"

"And how would you know that it's me, without opening your eyes?"

"I can smell you. Peppermint. And tea."

"Hmm, just as the sempais said. I never thought that you had such a keen sense of scent. Unless I now _reek_ of the odor. And I was having tea with Tamaki."

"Oh." Kaoru sat up, awake now, lips pursed. "I think I've kissed you enough times to know what you smell like."

"True." He paused. "Kaoru, about those sketches of yours…"

The redhead looked pained. "They're trash."

"No, they aren't. The fundamental design is very graceful, if somewhat different from your usual style."

Kaoru looked down. He had been thinking of nothing but Kyouya and Tamaki while he'd been drawing. "And you like this new one better?"

"No. I was going to say… that gold you used." Kaoru looked up at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue. Kyouya shrugged. "This one is… so pale. A little washed out."

"I thought you liked gold." Kaoru scrutinized the color swatch he'd pinned onto the paper. It was the exact shade of Tamaki's hair.

"The only gold I want is in your eyes."

Kaoru's downcast eyes shot up to stare at him. "W…" He knew better than to ask 'what', although he was sorely tempted to. Instead he sat there patiently, waiting for his boyfriend to explain.

The Shadow King looked at him. He wasn't often prone to flowery speeches of love (he got quite enough of those from his best friend, thank you very much) but he was also honest to a fault with Kaoru. no matter how embarrassing some of the things he said were. "Kaoru… I love gold. Simply because it reminds me of you. it's warm, vibrant… and the color of your eyes. This shade… I'm sorry, but it just doesn't feel right to me. It might do adequately for another design, perhaps? I'm aware that you're far more experienced in fashion matters, but—"

He was cut off as a set of arms wrapped around him.

"Kaoru?" He ventured, even as his hand went to stroke the other boy's head.

The golden-eyed boy just hugged him tighter. "How is it that you can say all the right things even without knowing it?" he marveled softly.

* * *

Hikaru glowered at his smirking twin as the two of them got ready for their respective dates. What a fall from grace! Whereas he used to lounge on his brother's bed while he prepared to go out with that piranha, now he was reduced to enduring Kaoru's teasing about his new love life.

_Damn me for being such a loving brother. _Oh, how the sarcastic had fallen…

He eyed Kaoru's outfit with a critical eye, pursing his lips at the way his black jacket brought out his golden coloring and made his slender figure even more appealing. "You know, I heard sackcloth's all the rage nowadays. And painting your face with ashes is making a huge comeback. Latest makeup trend from England."

"Oh shut up, you little monster. I'm gorgeous and you know it," Kaoru said, turning in a small circle before the mirror so he could examine his jeans. Perfect. "And what, you really think that sempai wouldn't adore me in a sackcloth anyway?"

"Uh, _yeah_? I'm sure he's got you hypnotized with his lines right now, but that's all they are. _Lines._ Not like he really means anything. Talk's cheap. Just because he keeps going on and on about your 'sparkling golden eyes…'"

He waited a few seconds for a comeback before he realized that his twin had frozen, and he mentally cursed himself. Whatever he had said had evidently hit a nerve.

Still, Kaoru managed to recover himself admirably before he'd managed to fumble for a way to take back what he said. "Bullshit, big brother," the younger twin said—ooh. He really was upset. Kaoru so rarely cursed. "I'm gorgeous in everything. I'd just start a new fashion, and then all the girls would be screaming with envy."

"Well, you look just like me, so no arguments on the gorgeous thing," Hikaru muttered. "And we all know that the bat out of hell is so in love with you anyway… he practically kisses the ground you walk on…"

Kaoru snorted. "Aren't you talking about milord?"

"What? Why would he be in love with milord? He's not in love with milord, what are you babbling about?" Hikaru's mouth went into overdrive. "Milord's not—"

"Hikaru," the other redhead said, cutting him off. "I meant that _milord_ is in love with _you_, and sempai is _way _too dignified to kiss the ground I walk on." He gave him a suspicious look. "Is there something you want to tell me about?"

_Oh great. Open mouth, insert foot…_

"Other than the fact that my outfit looks so much better than yours?" Hikaru said lightly. "No, what?"

"More bull. Though that aquamarine does suit you. Remind me to try that color sometime." Kaoru sighed. "Seriously, Hikaru, you've been acting really weird recently…"

"And _you _worry too much. Then again, what's new?"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. He was well-aware that he had the tendency to be over-anxious and paranoid, but he couldn't exactly help himself. He could no more turn off that part of his personality than the Shadow King could suddenly start prancing around like Tamaki. He shuddered at the mental image. "Fine. But I still think you're mental."

"Certifiable," Hikaru agreed sagely. "Why else would I be dating milord?"

With a little snicker, Kaoru adjusted his brother's collar. There, perfect. "True. Though you guys are surprisingly good for each other."

"Huh? What, that he drives me crazy and I encourage his freaky fantasies?"

"No, that you actually have someone to rely on," Kaoru snorted, flicking him on the nose. "And milord's really serious about you. It's everything I'd hoped for you. Well," he amended, "perhaps with a little less of the gooeyness, but close enough." He paused. "Isn't he… what you hoped for?"

Hikaru was silent a moment. "I don't know what I was hoping for, Kaoru," he admitted. "Haruhi, maybe."

"You liked her because she could tell us apart," Kaoru muttered. "You wanted someone who didn't see you as a twin. But _everyone _does that now."

"Only because now they all think of you as 'victim of an evil overlord'."

"Don't you mean 'the incredibly lucky guy who managed to land one of the hottest, most eligible bachelors around'?" Kaoru said, batting his eyelashes. He chuckled. "Hikaru… you're so in denial. Milord got you the moment he confessed to you on the rooftop. It was definitely not a coincidence that you pulled a prank like that last time. You just didn't want to see him right away before you could compose yourself, so you thought of one that would clear the whole school out."

Hikaru colored, knowing that he _had _been affected. "He just… it's weird. How can he just do something so embarrassing without thinking about whether or not I'd reject him on the spot? It would have been humiliating. Why the hell would he—"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. Really, he needed to teach his brother that showing emotions didn't make a man weak. That was why he was so quickly won over by something so sincere.

Hell, if he'd been Hikaru, and didn't have the good fortune to have the sexiest Shadow King on the planet (the only Shadow King, mind you; no one else deserved the title, in his opinion), then he'd probably have fallen for it too.

"Why…?"

He smirked. "I believe it's called love, Hikaru."

* * *

Hikaru had always known that Tamaki was a little weird, but…

"Um… you want me to wear this _why_?" Hikaru peeked out over the sunglasses that the blond had handed him, along with the cap that was now pulled down low over his head. Tamaki had asked him to go on a date with him, and he'd agreed. It was nothing new. Even before Tamaki had delivered his rooftop speech, they'd gone out a few times. But suddenly there was a peculiar new dress code? "Are you _asking _me to scream, 'Look, famous person in disguise over here!' or what?"

Tamaki, sporting his own 'cover-up', looked absolutely ridiculous. No matter what they wore—short maybe of one of those funny mascot costumes that would cover them from head to toe—they would be instantly recognizable. They stuck out like sore thumbs in any crowd. The redhead had no idea why Tamaki was even going with this. "Or are you trying to go for that stupid matching clothes idea after all? 'Cause if you are I think something like scarves or gloves would be better." Well, almost anything would be better than this.

"You look good in it," the other boy insisted.

"Well, I know that," Hikaru said, rolling his eyes. "I look good in just about everything." He pulled off the glasses. "You can't be serious."

"Please," the other boy said with a disarming smile. "Do it for me?" Hikaru blinked.

"Huh. Now I know why the girls drool when you talk sometimes," he grumbled, putting them back on.

Tamaki perked up. "What was that?"

"Nothing," the redhead replied hurriedly, feeling his ears go warm. The hell. He didn't really mean anything by that remark, but Tamaki definitely wouldn't look at it that way. He'd probably have the words engraved on gold plate."Where are we going, by the way?"

"Um… I thought it would be nice if we went to the beach?"

"Oh. Okay, I guess." The sky was gunmetal gray and the weather was a little chilly. Swimming was definitely not an option, and it would probably be deserted. No one went when the sky was like this. Weird, but whatever. "So which beach…?" His eyebrows shot up when Tamaki named one far away. Very far away. And… a public beach. Not one of their privately owned ones. "Uh, care to explain?"

_If I told him my concerns about you two he might start zeroing in on how those issues apply to us as well._ That was what Kyouya had said about Kaoru; he preferred to keep his boyfriend away from those things, to stop him from worrying. Well, Tamaki didn't want to bother Hikaru with it either. He could worry enough for the both of them. Especially when Hikaru was so impulsive. "It's nice to steal away, just the two of us."

"Well, as long as you don't decide to, I don't know, steal my virtue on some secluded little piece of public sand, fine, whatever." He watched Tamaki color and felt his own face flush. "You… really are a pervert king, aren't you?"

"N-no! It never even occurred to me!"

Hikaru snorted. "Right…"

"I really didn't! I'm not going to do anything…" But when he said that, the host king reddened further.

"Oi… what stupid thing are you thinking now?"

"I'm not going to do anything you don't like but… can I kiss you?"

Hikaru looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Y… you've never asked permission before," he mumbled. "This is a first."

"Is that a yes?"

"No!"

"Oh," Tamaki said, drooping.

"Screw it," muttered the redhead. They'd kissed before, anyway… just not since the confession. He glanced down the road and saw that it was nearly deserted, empty save for one old biddy sitting on a low wall nearby. She probably wouldn't keel over even with 'all those misguided boys trying out their new-fangled free love!' right in front of her (which was a pity, because Hikaru was the kind of person who got kicks out of making other people pass out from his wildness). Besides, it was probably a service to society to get them to keep up with the times. "Just one, okay?"

Tamaki slipped off his sunglasses. "I told you, Hikaru. I won't do anything that you don't like." Their lips met.

When they broke away, Tamaki smiled a little and said, "You taste good."

Hikaru stared a while, then punched him in the arm. "Shut up, pervert," he said, pushing his shades back on and pulling the cap lower on his face. On second thought, these things were pretty handy after all. "Now move it. I'm not getting any younger here."

"How about a repeat performance?"

"Don't push your luck, cherry boy."

Meanwhile, the watching 'old biddy' spoke quietly into a mouthpiece. "I have confirmation of the situation, Suoh-sama."

* * *

Hikaru stretched out on the sand, pillowing his head with his arms. He had to admit, Tamaki had picked something he'd never have thought of. And it _was _pretty peaceful there.

Peaceful… also meaning boring.

"It's fucking freezing," he complained to no one in particular as he stared up at the sky. _And that cloud looks like milord's head, _he thought with a little snort of laughter. Tamaki had gone off to buy them some food.

"Did you say something?" A shadow stood over him.

"You're in my light," Hikaru complained. Not that there was any sun to speak of, but he wasn't going to let a little thing like the truth get in the way of his whining. "I was looking at this little cloud blob. I kind of wanted to bash it in."

"Why? What did it ever do to you?"

"Well, it stands up on chairs and declares undying love to me…"

The blonde blinked. "Now I have to be jealous of a cloud?"

Hikaru snickered. "Trust me, you guys aren't competing."

Tamaki handed him his share of the food. "You're kidding," Hikaru said, staring at it. "Ice cream? In this weather?"

The host king tilted his head to one side. "I thought that ice cream at the beach was traditional."

"You lack so much common sense that I can only be thankful that there's only one of you on this planet. If everybody were like you the whole human race would die out," Hikaru said, shivering. "And this scoop is green."

"It's pistachio."

"I think I hate pistachio."

"Have you ever tried it before?""

"No. What's yours, strawberry? Swap with me."

"Just give it a chance. How will you know if you like it if you keep telling yourself that you don't?"

"It looks like vegetable ice cream!" Hikaru sighed and scrunched up his nose, then took a tentative lick, barely touching his tongue to the scoop. "Blech! See? "

Tamaki laughed. "Hikaru, you kept telling yourself that you didn't like it when you took a taste. So you never really tried it, did you?"

"Look… actually, milord, I'm psychic. I have all sorts of freaky magic powers. So I already _know _that I don't like pistachio."

Tamaki nodded seriously. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think about…" He caught sight of the look on Hikaru's face. "You were making fun of me again."

"Of course I was," Hikaru agreed.

Tamaki's face started to twist into a pout. Left like that, he would probably blubber about how mean Hikaru was. He sighed in resignation, then licked his ice cream again, this time without holding his breath. It was… actually good. "Hey, I don't feel like vomiting."

"I'll take that as a good sign," Tamaki said, smiling, all signs of his pout disappearing. "You have…" He leaned in. "…some ice cream on your mouth."

"And… you're going to clean it off with your lips?" Hikaru said, raising his eyebrows.

"If you'll let me."

"Don't ask every time," Hikaru said, reddening. His eyes closed as Tamaki leaned in… just before he let loose a sneeze.

He turned even redder. "Sorry," he said as Tamaki discreetly wiped off his cheek with tissue.

"No, it's okay. It's cold, isn't it? You were right, I was stupid to buy ice cream." Tamaki shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over Hikaru.

"Hey, I'm not some girl," the redhead complained, but he was already snuggling into the fabric. It was still warm from Tamaki's body heat.

"Gender doesn't determine how cold you get," Tamaki said, scooting closer to him.

"You're getting too close."

"But I want to share warmth."

"I knew you had ulterior motives." Hikaru kept eating the ice cream. _You kept telling yourself that you didn't like it when you took a taste. So you never really tried it, did you?_ Tamaki was right; he felt much warmer now.

He studied Tamaki's face. He was… beautiful. Not handsome; beautiful was the only word to describe it. Hikaru could appreciate beautiful things. But more than that… the look in Tamaki's eyes when he watched Hikaru made his cheeks flush. He was like a blind man seeing the world for the first time.

_Damn it, that thought was so cheesy._ Hikaru mentally cursed himself. _He's making me… weird._

"It's good," he said, then rested his head on Tamaki's shoulder. _Screw it._

Tamaki looked at him in surprise. "Hikaru?"

"How about we have another stab at what we were doing earlier?"

The host king blinked. It was the first time that Hikaru had initiated the kiss since the first one they'd shared. "Hikaru…"

"Shut up. I'm just…" He closed his eyes. _Milord got you the moment he confessed to you on the rooftop. _"I'm just giving something a real try."

* * *

Tamaki practically skipped up the driveway of the Suoh second house after a cab had dropped him off in front (he had foregone the use of the car for the sake of staying off the radar—a nice touch). Singing a song so disgustingly gooey that Hunny could well have eaten it, he almost went right up the stairs when a voice cut through his reverie.

"You're late."

He faltered. "Grandmother!"

As always, a bright smile spread on his face. She hated him, of course, but he never failed to put on his sunniest expression whenever she was around. It was partly because she was his grandmother, and partly because he refused to let her see how much she got to him.

Well, right now it was also partly because he was still in a buoyant mood from how well the date with Hikaru had gone earlier (the redhead had only hit him twice; that had to be some kind of progress). "What a delightful surprise! You should have told me that you were coming, I would have come home earlier—"

She stared down at him coldly, silent.

"—I was just out," he said, voice starting to trail. "I'm… sorry. Ah… I should go get you tea! Just wait here a moment, I'll head to the kitchen."

Tamaki always seemed to forget that there were maids for that sort of thing. But the maids tended to shut up and hide as much as possible when his grandmother was around anyway. She probably scared them even more than she scared him.

"I don't want to drink anything from _you_."

"Oh… yeah, I'm sorry. I haven't washed up yet, and I came from outside. I could clean up and then get you something to drink…"

She continued as though he hadn't spoken. "With your dirty hands that you used to touch another man, you want to make me tea? Are you trying to poison me? You're really that woman's son."

Tamaki gasped. _She knows._

She stood up. "You are not to continue this. If you do—"

The threat hung in the air unfinished, but he knew what she meant. _Think of your mother. Think of yourself. Think of what we could to Hitachiin Hikaru and his family._ Tamaki's breath caught in his throat. The Hitachiins were powerful, but the Suohs could crush anybody.

With the possible exception of Kyouya, who would let an enemy think he was beaten before turning the tables back on them tenfold. But even Kyouya wouldn't want to take on his family head-on.

"I…" He hesitated.

"It's all that woman's blood coming out in you. Blood will always tell." She never referred to Tamaki's mother as anything other than 'that woman', the same way that she didn't call Tamaki by name. She rose to leave.

"You're going already? Please, let's talk this over—"

"There's nothing to discuss and I have no wish to stay any longer here. Break it off with your tawdry lover and that will be the end of it."

As she turned to walk away, the words rushed out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "I love him."

Her eyes flashed. "That isn't funny, boy."

What had started out as a joke had become no laughing matter. "Even if he's a man. Even though sometimes he frustrates me, and hates me. He's beautiful and clever and funny, and when he thinks no one notices he's shy and sweet and he's one of the most caring, awkward people I know. He's important to me."

Her eyes narrowed as he played out his little speech. "Are you finished?" Her wintry tones would have made even the Shadow King proud.

"I love him, and I don't want to let him go."

"Are you finished?" she repeated.

_No_. _I could go on forever about this._ "Yes," he said, knowing that it was a lost cause to keep talking to her about Hikaru. No matter what he said, she wouldn't listen.

"Your father," she said, enunciating the words crisply, "called me a few days ago. He was so _pleased_ by your progress, and I was beginning to think that perhaps you were a suitable heir to the Tamaki name." She ignored the way Tamaki's eyes widened. "But I was wrong."

He looked away, crushed. "That's not…"

"He said that you'd found a lovely young lady, someone you would no doubt introduce to us soon. How do you think he would react if he knew exactly who you were carrying on with?"

"That's not fair," he whispered.

"What you think you feel," she said, emphasizing the third word, "has nothing to do with the situation. If you really believe that something like this is worth throwing away what circumstances handed you on a platter, you're an even bigger fool than I thought."

* * *

Kaoru was lounging with Kyouya on the Shadow King's bed when someone knocked on the door. "Your hair's rumpled, Kaoru," the sophomore remarked as he got up to open it.

"You were the one who messed it up," the redhead retorted, feeling the swollenness of his lips. At least he wasn't a girl and so didn't have to worry about getting lipstick all over Kyouya. He lay back and stretched on the covers, preparing himself to take a little catnap, when he heard a familiar voice. His eyes snapped open again.

"Kyouya—" Tamaki was speaking in hushed, hurried tones, looking worried. Most of what he said was spoken in such a low tone that Kaoru couldn't hear them. Kyouya's arms were folded across his chest, his expression unreadable as he left the door ajar. The longer Tamaki spoke, the grimmer Kyouya's expression got.

"I did warn you that something of this nature would happen. At this point, you only have two choices."

The other boy's voice rose. "Is there anything else I can do? My mother—"

The Shadow King lowered his own tones, glancing once in Kaoru's direction. "Then give up Hikaru."

"Kyouya!"

He sighed. There was no way they could conduct this conversation under the current circumstances. "Hold on, Kaoru's here with me…" Kyouya let the door swing fully open and allowed the blond to follow him inside. He eased over to Kaoru. "I'm sorry, but Tamaki and I have some things to discuss. Would you mind going home first?"

"What was that about Hikaru?"

Kyouya sighed. "We'll get the facts all sorted out soon, Kaoru. Until then, don't worry about it."

"But—"

The Shadow King's mouth met his, cutting off his sentence. "Mmmph—"

Well, no one ever said that Kyouya fought fair. He was starting to get light-headed. It would be kind of interesting to die like that, asphyxiation through kissing. It would make for some interesting epitaph possibilities for his tombstone, anyway, and at least the guests at his funeral would have something fun to talk about…

Crap. Kyouya's mission was accomplished: he was having trouble putting together rational thought processes about what he was going to argue with him about. Plus, he was pretty sure that he didn't have the wind to argue anymore.

"Fine. Have your little powwow, see if I care," he joked.

Kyouya smiled sadly at him. To know that Tamaki would be giving up Hikaru… it made his blood run cold, thinking of the what-ifs. What if it had been him losing Kaoru instead? He fought down the urge to pin the other boy down on the bed and kiss him senseless, until his paranoia died down. But Tamaki needed him. "Your hair's still rumpled, by the way."

Kaoru ran his fingers through the unruly locks, trying to put them back into some semblance of order. "So what? Let the world know what we've been up to, who cares?"

The Shadow King flinched, glanced in Tamaki's direction. "Kaoru…"

_What the hell?_ The redhead frowned as the reaction registered in his still-clouded brain. "You should go," Kyouya said.

Not trusting himself to speak, Kaoru nodded and let himself out.

"You look pale, Kaoru-kun."

"Fuyumi-neesan," he said, looking up. She had requested that he call her his older sister, just as Kyouya did—which made him happy, but was still a bit strange; occasionally he found himself slipping back into the habit of addressing her as 'Fuyumi-san'.

"Well, except your mouth. _That _seems to be burning quite nicely. Oh—that sure put some color back into your face." She grinned as he blushed. Really, it was so much fun having Kaoru around. Kyouya rarely showed any visible reaction to her prodding. "Much better. So what's wrong?"

He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Honestly… I don't know. Probably nothing."

"I don't think so," she probed.

He thought it over. "No. it probably really is nothing. But somehow, the more I look at things, it doesn't seem that way." He sighed. "It's kind of complicated."

"Well… communication is a two-way street, you know? I won't be able to help you unless you tell me what's wrong." She offered him a cheeky smile. "And we all know my advice is infallible."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I… can't. But thank you. I should get going. If milord's here, I'd better go and poke my brother about how their date went."

"Kaoru-kun, have you ever stopped worrying about others to maybe think about yourself?" she asked, shaking her head.

"I don't want to," he said, pulling on his jacket.

"Why not? You're gorgeous, you have excellent dress sense, a lovely sense of humor, and you have Kyouya, which can only point to fabulous taste in men." She grinned. "Why would you not want to think about yourself? You have it all."

"Do I really?" He snorted. "Fuyumi-san, have you ever heard of things being too good to be true? Of course when you've got something wonderful you're afraid of losing it."

The odd tone made her pause. "… Kaoru-kun?"

He smiled. "Never mind. Anyway, let's not give me a swelled head, Fuyumi-san—being the prick is my twin's role, not mine. I'm the sweet, unassuming one." And with that, he headed out the door.

Fuyumi frowned at his retreating back. Perhaps it was time that she had a nice chat with her dear little brother…

* * *

"You're home early," Hikaru noted as Kaoru came in. He set his game down and lounged on the couch, watching his twin strip off his jacket and toss it at a passing maid, nearly hitting her in the face. Ooh. His twin was _not _in a good mood. "Usually you leave hell at a much later time. What's the matter, did the demons decide to close shop sooner than expected? Not enough souls to torment?"

Kaoru gave him a baleful glare. "How about I kill you so that the supply will increase?"

Hikaru grinned. Kaoru could be fun or dangerous when he was pissed off, depending on how you handled him. And right now he was in the mood to tease. "Heck no. I'm going straight to heaven when I die. I'm an absolute angel. I mean, I do so much good to the world just by existing. I mean, I give people something nice to look at."

The younger twin attempted to glower more but found himself smiling wearily. It was hard to stay serious when he was around Hikaru, who always had just the right joke to make him laugh. Instead, he flopped down beside him and lazily put his feet on his twin's lap. "What about you? Why didn't your date with milord extend until the wee hours? Knowing that pervert king, you should have been kept busy until way, way late."

"Nah. He may be a pervert but he's quick. It only takes two minutes."

Kaoru's jaw dropped. With his brother, anything was possible. "Hikaru?"

"I was kidding. Jeez, Kaoru. Shut your mouth before the flies come in."

"Anyway, I left because _your _boyfriend popped in," Kaoru snorted. "Obviously you haven't been giving him what he wants, so he went off to look in other pastures."

"I wouldn't call Kyouya-sempai a pasture. He's more of a desert. Or you know, a land that was razed and then sown with salt so that nothing can ever grow there again." Hikaru frowned. "Well, you know milord. He's such a girl. I bet he went to hellspawn's house just to discuss how our date went, and then what shoes he should wear to the next one."

"I guess," Kaoru said doubtfully.

"Hey, Kaoru… how did you know that you were in love with the demon?" Hikaru asked, turning his attention back to the game. "I mean… when did you realize? It's not like you actually stop and think, 'Hey, I'm in love with this four-eyed freak'."

Kaoru shrugged. "Well, when did you realize that you were in love with milord?"

Hikaru missed a button and failed to make the combo. His huge-muscled samurai missed the move and got smashed in the face. "I asked first."

"You're such a kid. And I can't believe you're losing." Kaoru rested his head back on the cushions. "Well… I just knew. There was suddenly this person who… made me feel… I don't know. All messed-up. Really confused."

Hikaru gave him a look. "If that were the case, then I should be in love with our English teacher."

Kaoru grinned. "You know what I mean, idiot. Sort of, 'hey, this person throws me completely off-rhythm'."

"Milord does that to everyone, Kaoru. I'd like to see the person who doesn't get thrown off-rhythm by a pervert king who likes to twirl around throwing roses everywhere. I'll give that person a gold medal and shake his hand."

"Then you'd shake Kyouya-sempai's hand."

"He's not a person, Kaoru. He's a demon."

"Mori-sempai, then."

"I'm really amused by the fact that you're already accepting that your twitchy boyfriend's a demon. Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"Do you _want _me to hurt you?"

"Never mind. So get on with your explanation already. Why don't you actually outline something I can understand?"

"Ugh. I don't know how to explain it! It's when… when you think, 'I want to kiss this person' or 'I never realized these things until now'. Or 'this person makes me feel so strange, but I feel happy'." Kaoru smiled a little. "Things like that." He looked at his brother. "You're the same color as your hair and your character is losing."

"What? No way!" Hikaru rapidly began moving his thumbs. "_Shit_."

"You're so cute when you're confused, big brother of mine," Kaoru snickered as he ruffled Hikaru's hair. "Why are you asking anyway? Finally falling for milord?"

"Only in his dreams and in my worst nightmares," Hikaru huffed, swatting at Kaoru's hand. _Me… love milord? Do I? No freaking way… do I? _"Stop messing with my brain!"

"What brain?" his brother snorted. He raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine waking up with him one morning, far in the future, and then leaning over and kissing him?"

"No!" Hikaru burst out. Then he hesitated, thinking of what their house would look like. It would be modern and really open, and _huge_, with tons of places people could explore. It would never feel empty, because he and Tamaki were the types to seem to fill spaces anyway; they were larger than life. And their bedroom would be decorated in red and white… actually, that'd be pretty cool…

"Hello? Earth to Hikaru? Are you done planning your wedding yet?"

Hikaru groaned as his brother's words pulled him back. "I'm not in love with him! What kind of idiot would fall for a guy who thinks that babies come from storks?"

"A fool like you, Hikaru," Kaoru said with a grin. Hikaru bit his lip.

_Maybe.

* * *

_

Hikaru was already in his pajamas brushing his teeth when his phone rang. He flipped it open while still brushing, not even bothering to check the name flashing on the screen. "Yeah?"

"Hikaru..."

He froze at the familiar voice. "It's late," the redhead said, the words muffled by a mouthful of minty green foam. He spat out into the sink and rinsed. "What's up, milord? We just saw each other a few hours ago. Can't get enough of me, huh?"

"Sorry. I know that you should probably sleep and all now but… I wanted to talk to you."

Kyouya glared at Tamaki. Hours of talking and one very long dramatic scene later, they had finally gotten to the inevitable conclusion. And his half-French best friend still didn't like it. Still, there was nothing they could do. "Not over the phone," he mouthed. Even if it would have made things a lot neater and less complicated, no one deserved to get dumped that way. Not even someone who had repeatedly tried to assassinate him. The blonde nodded, his eyes pained.

"Talk about what?" Hikaru flopped onto his bed. "Hey, I've got to warn you, I'm not into… what do they call it these days? 'Adult entertainment audio communication?'" He grinned, knowing that Tamaki was probably blushing on the other end. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'm wearing really nice red silk boxers."

"Hikaru!" Tamaki squawked. "You shouldn't tell that sort of thing to anybody!"

"Nice act, pervert king. As though I don't know that you like it."

"Hikaru!" wailed Tamaki.

"Now that's better. You sounded… no, you _still_ sound… weird. I mean, you're not babbling all over the place like usual."

"I'm just tired. It's nothing to be worried about."

"Sh-shut up, who said I was worried about you?" The redhead considered flipping his phone shut on that note, but sighed into it instead. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything," Tamaki said, perching himself on the window seat. Kyouya surreptitiously left the room to give him some privacy.

"What, my red silk boxers?" Hikaru asked. "Well, let's see… they were given to me by—"

"No. Really. Just… talk."

"Well, you did say anything." Hikaru curled up on his bed. "Hmm. Want to hear my life story? What am I saying? Of course you do. Everyone wants to hear my life story."

"Actually, I do."

Hikaru blinked. "And… that's the first time anyone's actually said that." He snorted. "Well… you guys all got the short version of it. Y'know. Kaoru and I were wrapped up in our own little world. Then you came along and pulled us out."

"Do you regret it?"

He paused. "No… I mean, the club's fun. Stupid, but fun. And… well…" He struggled to put it into words before giving up. "Damn it. No matter how I look at it I'm going to sound really corny if I say it. But no, I don't regret it."

"Do you regret … meeting me?"

"Well, let's see… on the one hand, you're whiny, annoying, and you tried to spoon-feed me… and on the other hand you're blonde…" Hikaru laughed to himself. "Or maybe that should be put on the con side too."

Tamaki smiled. "Yeah," he said tiredly. Then he looked out the window. "The sky's beautiful tonight."

"Who the hell has the time to look up at the sky these days?" the other boy muttered. He padded over to his balcony, throwing a dressing gown over his pajamas. It was cold; a breeze blew past him, making him shiver. "Okay. It's black, and twinkly and…"

He looked up at the stars. When was the last time he'd bothered to even notice them? "…and probably full of pollution." He bit his lip. "There aren't enough stars. We should go somewhere where there aren't so many city lights sometime."

"Is that a date?" Tamaki joked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"W-well, it beats eating ice cream on the beach in this weather. What, you're saying you wouldn't want to go on a date with me?"

Tamaki found himself without words. "Yeah… sometime," he said quietly.

"What? You were the one who pointed out the stars." Hikaru squinted. "Y'know, if I kind of look at them from a certain angle, I can make a new constellation. The barking donkey."

"Where?"

"…or how about the airhead milord instead? If I look hard they're kind of lopsided like your head." Hikaru laughed softly. "They're sparkly too. Like you, when you toss around those ridiculous tears of yours. I mean, how do you cry without eye drops? It's crazy."

"It's nice, you know," Tamaki said. "Even if we don't see each other… we're connected by this same sky."

Hikaru bit his lip. _No. Hearts do not skip in real life. They produce blood, circulate it, and… I should really listen to my bio teacher more 'cause I have no idea other than that._ _Oh god, I've gone nuts for real, haven't I? Why else would I be seeing him everywhere? No wait… hot air rises, so… so it's no wonder I keep seeing him in the sky. Right! Or… does hot air even rise?_ Science really wasn't his strong point.

"How the heck can you spout lines like that so easily?" He finally managed to bite out as he clutched at his balcony's rails for support. He cringed at the thought of his earlier conversation with Kaoru (and his twin would _not _let up on him losing twice to the game's AI). "L-look, I'm going to hang up now. It's late."

"Can I… can we go out tomorrow?"

"I knew you couldn't get enough of me," he scoffed, recovering a bit. "Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Dinner at six? I'll pick you up."

He shrugged. "Fine, fine."

Tamaki hesitated as he made plans in his head. "Dress nice."

"_Nicely_, milord. And I always do!" One thing you never insulted about a Hitachiin: fashion sense.

"Okay. Good night. I love you, Hikaru."

Hikaru blushed and mumbled a generic goodbye before he shut his phone, staring up at the sky. He squinted at them again. They really did look like a lopsided outline of Tamaki's head. Or maybe he was just hallucinating. He'd been poisoned by Tamaki's freaky alien beams. He'd probably put something in the pistachio. But…

"Me… too."

* * *

A/N: Sorry, guys. Like I said, it really was very rushed, and I didn't take the time to read it over once I'd finished speed-typing all 8,989 words worth of it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I really hope the person who stole my hard drive is cursed with constipation for the rest of his/her life! Gah. I really will attempt to work on the future chapters of this, so please don't abandon this fic!

Ooh. Wish me luck for my midterms and this essay-writing contest I'm joining. :) Lots of love and sparkles to you guys!


	6. Freefall

A/N: Hello September, and hello readers! I'll be absurdly busy for a good part of this month, but never too busy to reply to reviews. Anyway, I had the most delicious time writing this chapter, and I hope you all like it. It's a bit more grown-up than before, hopefully that turns out to be a good instead of a bad thing. This chapter wasn't included in my initial outline of the story, but I figured, since my outlines got lost anyway, why not? Still hating the person who took my hard drive, though. This chapter turned out quite rushed since I wanted to get it out of the way, before my real-life problems bogged me down and prevented me from writing/posting it. Hope you all don't mind, and I apologize for the raw quality.

Also, I got a fantastic bit of fanart for Old Tangles, New Knots from my fellow countrywoman Noitavlas! The link is http : / noitavlas . deviantart . com / art / Old-Tangles-New-Knots - 165925654#. Remove the extra spaces to have a look at it. It's really lovely. She showed it to me ages ago, and I'm only posting the link now... sorry about that. But I'd like to say a huge thank you to her for it!

Also, this chapter is dedicated to: Always a Bookworm, Angel015, Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, Mimi-dudette, xRosePetalx, porcelainanimals, Flacks, iPercy, pi-or-pie, Rouge, HikaruKaoruand Haruhi, Krazy Kitsune13, Nikita-chan6, Jillkun-ness, Full-Empty-Spirit, and December'sRose. Many, many thanks for your reviews!

Right, onto the story proper. Without further ado, chapter five.

* * *

Chapter Five: Freefall

"Hikaru! Your _date's_ here!" Hikaru swore at the too-obvious emphasis on that dratted word. He could practically _hear _Kaoru smirking all the way downstairs. He ran a critical eye over his clothes one more time before he frowned and tugged his tie off and undid the top button on his dress shirt. Much better. The neat look suited Kaoru more, while he preferred to be a little less put-together; it suited their personal styles and natures that way.

"Oh, good choice," Kaoru said as he caught sight of him as he came down. "I was going to recommend that suit anyway—if you hadn't thrown me out of the room."

"I wouldn't have thrown you out if you hadn't kept going on and on about weddings and soul mates and things which belong in really sick romance novels. You need to stop reading those, Kaoru. They'll rot your brain."

"At least I still have a brain to rot," Kaoru said cheerfully. "We gave up on you ever having one a long time ago."

"You little—"

"I think you look wonderful." He started at the voice and looked past Kaoru (who unfortunately had managed to duck the swat he'd aimed at his head) to see Tamaki standing there, a bouquet of primroses in hand. "Good evening, Hikaru."

"Uh, hi milord. Thanks." He tried not to blush as he accepted the flowers. _Primroses in flower language meaning 'I can't live without you_'. Surely Tamaki had had no idea what they'd meant when he'd bought them… then again, the blonde was so disgustingly mushy that he wouldn't have put it past him to look it up. And unfortunately, Kaoru was well-versed in flower language; he saw his twin's eyes twinkling at him in delight.

Kaoru snickered. It was evident that Hikaru had no idea what to do, and he couldn't blame him. They'd been taught proper courtship rituals, of course—for one thing, Kyouya had insisted that it was a must for hosts, and for another, they were all scions of wealthy families and taught decorum that way (not that they'd paid a lot of attention, because as far as the Hitachiin twins were concerned, the term 'rule' was interchangeable with 'suggestion')—but this had never been in their guidelines. What did one do when one's male lover presented them with flowers?

"I'll get you a vase for that," he said, finally taking pity on his brother. "And you look very handsome as well, milord, even if Hikaru's too dumbstruck by your dashing good looks to admit it."

"Am not!" Hikaru retorted, scowling, but Kaoru had already stuck his tongue out at him and gone off. He glanced at Tamaki.

"Well, you do clean up okay," he mumbled, knowing it was an understatement. He looked damn good in a suit. He gritted his teeth. The problem with being a budding fashion designer was that he could tell exactly what made the boy look so wonderful: the perfect lines which molded to his body, the dark blue making his eyes seem more liquid and mysterious, and complementing his fair coloring…

Much to his horror, Kaoru reappeared bearing a vase and saying, "Mom and dad would like you both to come to the living room." He said it in his most pompous, formal tones, but Hikaru caught the glint of mischief in his twin's eyes.

"Of all the times for them to be home… why couldn't they be in Peru or something?"

Tamaki gave him a small smile as he helped to arrange the flowers. "Do you not want me to meet them?" Truthfully, he had mixed feelings himself on the matter. On the one hand, he was thrilled to get closer to Hikaru this way, and he'd long wanted to be introduced. On the other hand, it would never last. All it meant was that he would smile at his boyfriend's parents, knowing that he would be breaking up with their son soon.

Kyouya had told him off for unnecessarily complicating things. "This is only going to make it harder for you to let go," the Shadow King had warned him. And he knew his best friend was right… but he'd decided to hell with it. He would at least have one last night.

There was really no way to win.

Hikaru sighed. "No… but they're…" He hesitated. He'd been about to say, 'They're _parents_; they're embarrassing and annoying and I almost wish I'd just been hatched full-grown out of an egg or maybe shipped off to another country far away from them', but he quickly remembered Tamaki's own family situation. He almost hated himself from his unvoiced statement. "They're going to tease me."

"At least that's the worst they'd do," the blonde murmured, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Hikaru bit his lip, wondering if he'd been insensitive. Tamaki would probably have been thrilled to have his mom tease him. _Screw it; according to Kaoru, I'm insensitive 99.9 percent of the time anyway_. He looked away. Sometimes, it was kinder not to comment. "Let's get this over with," he muttered in a mournful voice, looking as though he was being sent to his execution.

"Tamaki-kun," Yuzuha said as they came in. The half-French boy took her hand and kissed it before moving on to shake her father's hand. "Hikaru's told us so much about you."

Hikaru coughed. _Namely all the ways you drive me crazy… _"Mom, dad, this is Suoh Tamaki… my… boyfriend." He blushed. "Milord, these are my parents. You've all met before, but not…"

"Not like this, I know," Yuzuha said with a little grin. "You look gorgeous in that suit, Tamaki-kun. Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Hitachiin-sama." Hikaru let out a little groan through his teeth as his parents promptly ushered the older boy to the couch to interrogate—er, _get to know_—him. They looked like lions moving in for the kill, and Tamaki was the poor little gazelle about to get ripped to shreds.

"There should be a law passed against meddling parents," muttered the redhead, hiding his face in his hands as his father gently probed into how far they'd gotten. Good God. Tamaki's cheeks flamed a brilliant scarlet.

"Or meddling older brothers?" Kaoru pointed out. "Considering all the times you stalked me and sempai and tried to kill him and even made a private detective follow us on our dates once?"

"That was different," Hikaru grumbled. "Not like it worked, anyway. And that detective charged me a lot for that gunshot wound in his right buttock, you know."

"Sempai has a private security detail. What did you expect? Anyone stupid enough to take a job following Kyouya-sempai deserves it. Wonder how he explains it to the ladies. Takes quite a creative war wound story to attract girls with something like that."

"Great, so because of that the demon manipulated the karmic laws of the universe to somehow make my good deed of trying to eliminate him translate into my slow torture through parental grilling?"

Kaoru smirked. "Turnabout is fair play."

"Uh-huh. I think I'd rather have you trying to bludgeon milord instead of mom and dad hounding us with all the parent-y stuff. I swear they give parents manuals on how to embarrass their kids or something."

Of course, he just _had _to hear his dad give up on hinting at it before finally just coming out and asking, "So you haven't actually had intercourse?"

Hikaru buried his face in his hands as Tamaki rushed to stammer out a denial. "Just kill me now. Please. At this point it would be a mercy."

Kaoru grinned. "But where would be the fun in that?

"Sadist. I don't get paid enough to deal with all this crap."

"Hikaru, you don't get paid at all."

"Exactly!"

Yuzuha chuckled at him. "Hikaru, dear," she murmured, lowering her voice so that her husband and Tamaki couldn't hear her. "I'm so glad, darling. I'm not worried about your relationship anymore."

He gave her a deer-caught-in-headlights look. If the deer had been homicidal, that is. "Huh?"

She grinned. "You have that same glow Kaoru does. You adore Tamaki-kun, don't you?"

"What?"

"You remind me of someone else in the family, too. You look just like your father did before I finally managed to land him," she said smugly. "Completely in denial about how he felt… but I knew that he loved me and it was just a matter of time before he admitted it."

"What?" he squawked, outraged. "What a load of—"

"Well, we won't keep you any longer," she said loudly, drowning out his indignant tirade (and Tamaki's red-faced explanations). "We wouldn't want to make you two lose your reservation, now would we?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Reservation?"

Tamaki nodded. "I took the liberty of choosing a place already." He named one of the classiest restaurants in the city. "I hope you don't mind?"

"No, just get me out of here before they want us to start, I don't know, _breeding_ in front of them," he muttered, glaring at his parents, who both looked immensely entertained.

"Do you have a curfew?" Tamaki asked. He glanced at the Hitachiin parents. "Um, should I have him back by a certain time?"

They all snickered—even Hikaru. Trying to give the twins a curfew was like telling the sea not to be quite so wet. "Well, if you bring him back to us eventually, that'll be fine," their father said.

"Thanks so much for the love, dad," Hikaru said, rolling his eyes.

"Have fun on your _date_, Hikaru," Kaoru said sweetly. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do… and be sure to use—"

"If you say protection I'm going to eviscerate you."

"Ooh, eviscerate. Hikaru used a big word. Good job. Finally found the thesaurus, have you?" His twin smirked. "I was going to say 'proper table manners', though. Oh dear. Such a dirty little mind my older brother's got there."

That was it. Hikaru was sure the universe was conspiring against him. And no one could even hear him swear, not over the laughter of everyone else in the room.

* * *

"You laughed at me," Hikaru sulked in the car on their way to dinner. He peeked up through his red bangs at the blonde, and he frowned. "You're _still _laughing at me."

It really was nice to sit in the same car together. On their previous dates, they'd had separate rides, something that Hikaru insisted on. He claimed it was just easier that way, but Tamaki had suspected it was just so that he could escape any time he wanted to.

And they'd never gone to a place as nice as the restaurant that night. Not because they couldn't afford it—they could buy the entire restaurant if they wanted to—or because they weren't used to such a formal atmosphere. It was only that Tamaki had been afraid that Hikaru would object at the romantic nature of such an evening ("What the hell? Dinner by candlelight? That kind of stuff only happens in movies and with Kaoru and the demon spawn.") but considering it was their last night together, he figured he might as well go all out. And to his relief, the redhead hadn't objected.

"No, I didn't," Tamaki said, trying to hide his smile. "And I'm not." It had been heart-warming to observe the Hitachiin family. He'd heard a lot from Kyouya about how lovely their parents were, but that ran contrary to a lot of what the rumor mill spread about the Hitachiins. Their parents weren't always around, and a lot of people considered the glued-at-the-hip relationship between the twins unhealthy, but they obviously cared a lot for each other. A lot of people thought that their family would have a lot of problems, but he was surprised by how close and understanding they seemed to be.

And Hikaru was adorable when he was huffing like that.

Golden eyes narrowed as they looked up at him. "I can practically read your mind, you know. What you're thinking is written all over your face. You're thinking I'm cute when I'm in a bad mood like this." His lower lip stuck out in an involuntary pout.

"I think you're cute all the time," Tamaki said diplomatically, marveling at how well Hikaru had been able to read him. Then again, considering how closely the Hitachiins studied people—as fashion designers, estimating a person's tastes and what would best suit them; as pranksters extraordinaire, carefully selecting their targets, marking when a person was most off-guard, coming up with the best excuses or sob stories to get themselves off the hook—it was hardly a surprise.

"But of course," the other boy snorted. "It's part of the Hitachiin family code of conduct. The non-cute ones are left exposed in the wilderness to perish. Not that we get any of those, so thankfully the wilderness is unpopulated by any of us Hitachiins. Well. Except for the ones who sneak out to said wilderness to roll around in the bushes or something. Which would mean they'd end up with dirt and bugs and possums in their boxers afterward, but all in good fun."

Tamaki blinked. "Well. At least that answers the 'boxers or briefs' question the girls keep hounding you about."

Hikaru choked back a laugh. "Well, you knew that already," he pointed out. "You know, conversation with me last night? Red silk?"

The blonde's cheeks burned. "Um…"

"No, you are not allowed to ask me what underwear I'm wearing."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Right. You've been staring at me all night," Hikaru remarked dryly. "Admittedly a little higher up than most perverts, but still." Tamaki winced. He just wanted to memorize his features and gestures… the way his fingers curled a little when he left them lying on his lap, the way his smirk would widen into a grin when he was continuously teasing someone… "It's not like I'm going anywhere, you know. I'm not about to throw open the door and run out of this car."

It took all of his self-control not to react to that careless comment. "Yes, but I wouldn't put it past you," he teased, fighting not to let his hands ball up into fists.

_You're not the one going anywhere, Hikaru. It's going to be me._

"Hmm. Just admit that you were that mesmerized by my beauty, milord."

"Yes, I was, and still am," Tamaki answered immediately, causing a flush to spread up the Hitachiin's face. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that. "Of course," he added, not wanting the other boy to close up and become prickly from embarrassment again, "I'm amused that you actually acknowledge the _beauty_."

It took a full minute before Hikaru realized what he was getting at. "Handsome!" he protested in a near-screech. "I meant to say, 'that mesmerized by my stunning good looks'. I'm not a girl! I didn't mean to say beauty!"

"But you still are, Hikaru," Tamaki murmured. "Absolutely beautiful."

* * *

One thing that Hikaru always appreciated about his family's good name—and in this case, the Suohs' good name—was that they got top-quality service everywhere. Once they were in, the maitre d'hôtel immediately recognized them and bowed, greeting them as he showed them to the best and most private table in the place. He smirked in contentment as he leaned back against the luxurious cushions, their table half-hidden by a gorgeous design of flowers and ferns from the other diners. Their server didn't even bat an eyelash when they decided to have some wine to complement their dinner, and promptly served them the best bottle in the house while the chef got to work on their orders.

Yep. Definitely good to be a Hitachiin. Or a Suoh.

Tamaki propped his chin up with one hand and decided to open the conversation with the magic words.

"So tell me about your newest game."

That was really all it took to get Hikaru to launch into an extremely enthusiastic, five-minute long account of Mega Mutilation Ninja Girl Five, but right in the middle of him trying to explain one of the special combo moves (complete with hand gestures and a lot of blabbering about how hot the lead character was), Hikaru paused. "You don't actually like those games, you know."

Well, no, not really, but it was worth it to see his boyfriend's eyes light up like that. Hikaru was almost frighteningly obsessed with games, and he always became more animated when discussing them. "I don't mind."

Hikaru scowled. "I do," he mumbled. "What is this, Be Nice to Hikaru day?"

He had the odd feeling that he was being humored, for some reason, as though Tamaki were doing everything in his power to please. A lot of people might have believed that Tamaki was always that way, indulging him, but really he put up with a lot of the other boy's nonsense (and to anyone who tried to argue, he would force them to read the slobbery love poetry the blonde had decided to send him via telegram—at three in the morning). Tonight, Tamaki seemed to be on his best behavior, and it was making him suspicious.

_Well, two can play at that game._ He put on his most brilliant smile, and quickly changed the topic.

About two minutes of talking later, Tamaki found himself quickly realizing what Hikaru was doing, and he couldn't help admiring him. He had never seen the other boy really _on_ before, as he termed Kyouya's transformation. It was like flicking on a light switch, the way the Shadow King changed from his usual faux-grumpy, cold self to a mass of polished charm during events.

He hadn't thought that Hikaru had had it in him. The Hitachiin twins had long enjoyed a reputation for being the terrors of social gatherings, but as the redhead deftly made the conversation flow from schoolwork to the club to social issues to books they'd read recently, he realized that the boy was as well-trained in social niceties as other scions of wealthy families. Maybe even better. He'd just preferred to be wild and do things his way rather than the way they'd been taught.

They'd already finished their appetizers and were working through their main course when they lapsed into pure questions and answers. Tamaki barely even paid attention to what he was eating, although the food was superb. "When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?" he asked.

The freshman's cheeks flamed. "A gangster—don't laugh!" He groaned as the older boy's eyes danced with amusement, and he sourly foresaw that the next club theme would probably involve him dressing as Al Capone.

"Sorry, it's just really…" Tamaki grinned, knowing better than to call him cute… but really, there was no other way to describe his current mental image of a mini-Hikaru dressed in a mobster suit, with a candy cigar clenched between his teeth. It was too charming.

Hikaru glared at him, stabbing his steak with his fork. "If you had a twin, what would be the first thing you two would do?" Then he blushed as he realized the potential for naughty comebacks his question had. "Mind you, just one milord is more than enough for this world."

"We'd play Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major," Tamaki answered promptly. "I'd always wanted a partner for that, and having a twin would be perfect."

The redhead nodded. "You're wonderful when you play the piano."

"Only when I play the piano?" Tamaki said, raising an eyebrow. Clearly Hikaru was rubbing off on him.

"Nah. You're also wonderful when you're asleep… or when you're far, far away… or when you're bound and gagged… or when the host club girls are using you as a piñata…" _Or when you're on the beach, eating ice cream with me. Or when you're talking to me on the phone, looking at the stars._

He looked down at his hands. "Playing the piano makes me feel closer to my mother."

Hikaru let a moment of silence follow that remark. "Your mother is lucky you love her so much," he finally said.

_Enough to give you up. But I'm doing it for you too._ Tamaki forced a smile as he asked a new question. "What's your favorite fruit?"

"Maple syrup."

"Hikaru, that's not a fruit."

He shrugged as though it didn't matter. "It comes from trees."

Tamaki was torn between laughing out loud and banging his head on the table. "So do leaves, and they're not fruit."

"Fine then, strawberries. But I don't like them plain. I only eat them with lots of chocolate syrup… or whipped cream… or covered in sugar…"

Tamaki laughed. "Well, strawberries don't come from trees … but at least they're fruit."

"Eh. Fruits are weird," Hikaru said, shaking his head. "Thus proving the infinite superiority of maple syrup. Boxers or briefs?" he said with a smirk, trying to catch him off-guard.

"Nothing at all," Tamaki replied without even a hint of a blush, and was well-rewarded by the heat that flooded the freshman's cheeks. "I was kidding, Hikaru. You'll just have to find out."

"Pervert," snorted the younger boy. "You're catching on to my innuendo quicker these days."

"I have to. Otherwise my face would permanently look like a tomato. I had to adapt sometime." His lips quirked up into a grin. "Why do you always call me milord?"

"It just stuck, after we'd first met you," Hikaru said. "And I wouldn't like calling you Tamaki-sempai anyway." He fiddled with his napkin for a bit before deciding to ask. "Um… your name isn't really Suoh Tamaki, right? I… the piranha once mentioned it was something else."

Tamaki nodded. "It became Suoh Tamaki when I came to Japan, but really it's Rene Tamaki Richard de Grandtaine." He smiled. "You can call me by my real name if you like."

The redhead paused. Not even Kyouya called Tamaki anything other than… well, Tamaki. Aside from the usual nicknames like 'idiot', 'fool', 'moron'… but then again those were standard-issue. And Tamaki wanted _him_ to call him that? He blushed a little. "A big name to go with a big head," he complained, quickly sticking some potatoes into his mouth.

At Tamaki's unhappy puppy-dog eyes, though, he swallowed and said, "It's too long… I'd lose, like, fifteen seconds of my life every time I called you that. Maybe I could call you… Rene… sometimes?" At Tamaki's nod of agreement, he continued, "But I think I'll keep on with the 'milord'… it suits you too much, and it's already our special nickname for you…" He blushed even harder. "Not that I meant it any way special!"

"Of course, Hikaru." The Hitachiin really was awkward about displaying affection, and he could understand that.

Hikaru switched topics. "So milord, what planet are you really from?"

"Earth."

"Liar!"

"What are you thinking right now?" the blonde murmured, catching his left hand as the other boy took a sip of his wine. Tamaki had held back, since Kyouya had made him swear never to get drunk ever again (though he wasn't quite sure why… the Shadow King had been awfully strict about him drinking since around the time that the Manipulative Pair formed), but Hikaru had had more than a few glasses. His golden eyes were shining, soft and liquid, as they talked, and he didn't seem to mind as Tamaki's thumb gently stroked his wrist. He shivered at the action, letting out something of a purr that made the half-French boy nearly groan.

Hikaru looked straight at him, his cheeks slightly pink. He felt so warm, so wonderful, and a little tingly from the wine. So far his experience with going on dates was confined to the lone time with Haruhi, when he'd been such an ass. That had been such a puny, immature thing, and this… this was so perfect.

For a moment he recalled a recent conversation with his twin. _I don't know what I was hoping for, Kaoru._ Whatever he had thought he'd wanted and was so unsure of was nowhere as good as this was.

"I was thinking," he breathed, "that I could get used to this."

Tamaki swallowed hard, caught in his gaze. "I could get used to this too."

_But we aren't going to get the chance to.

* * *

_

After that moment, they'd lapsed into comfortable silence, before Tamaki asked for the bill and instructed the waiter to "wrap up something sinful for dessert." Hikaru raised an eyebrow at him in askance.

"Our date's not over yet, Hikaru," the older boy murmured at his unspoken inquiry. "We've still got the best for last, and I'm not going to let you go until then." The way he phrased it made Hikaru shiver…

And suddenly it took on a whole new meaning when his eyes widened as their car approached a hotel. He knew that he'd told Tamaki that his body was no big deal, but recently he'd been rethinking his stand on that. He tugged urgently on the other boy's sleeve. "Milord… Rene…"

He saw the way Tamaki's eyes seemed to burn as he called his name for the first time. "Hikaru," he murmured, voice dropping a little. Then he saw the alarm in the younger boy's face. "What's wrong?"

"I… we're going to… I'm a virgin!" he finally blurted out. Tamaki's jaw dropped open, and he looked away, redder than his hair. Kaoru was right; Tamaki really did mess him up—_no wait, damn it, that would mean I love him, and I don't!_ _It's just a… a possibility…_ "I… I'm not ready for… for going farther than…" He hated himself for sounding so pathetic, but he realized it was true. He wasn't ready.

Tamaki blinked at his near-incoherent speech before he understood. _Oh_. They _were _going to a hotel, so it was no wonder he'd gotten the wrong idea. He tried to will away his own scarlet cheeks as he took out a thick red blanket and the dessert they'd gotten from the restaurant.

"Hikaru, I wanted to take you up on the roof so we could eat our dessert there. I wasn't going to bring us to one of the rooms. I won't lay a finger on you." Although, now that he had the idea in his head, he was having a hard time not imagining the gorgeous redhead curling his hands around his shoulders, his breath sighing in his ear, and being able to marvel at all that pale, beautiful skin…

Tamaki caught sight of the driver watching them in the mirror. _Grandmother._ It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him, and he glared right back at the man. _This is the last time, and I know that! You don't need to remind me. _"I'm not going to touch you, Hikaru."

"What? Why not? What's wrong with me?" Hikaru demanded, eyes narrowing, obviously forgetting his earlier words.

"Because I love you, and I would never want to hurt you." He knew that the driver would carry tales back to his grandmother—she'd been the one to hire him, after all—but he didn't care. His grandmother already knew his feelings for Hikaru… not that she gave a damn about them. "Let's go up, shall we?" He wrapped an arm around the younger boy's waist. So strong, and yet so vulnerable… he was beginning to see what Kyouya had meant about wanting to protect someone despite their own resilience. "Trust me, Hikaru."

To his surprise, Hikaru realized that he _did _trust Tamaki. Well, didn't trust him not to be an idiot sometimes, certainly, but when it counted, he knew that his boyfriend was someone he could rely on. He wasn't some damsel in distress, but with Tamaki he felt… safe. When it had been him and Kaoru, he'd had to be the big brother. The tough one.

But Tamaki, for all his slender delicateness and gentle eyes, was tough too.

He shivered as they stepped out of the elevator and out onto the roof. There was a swimming pool and garden there, and Hikaru involuntarily recalled their own moment on the school roof. Tamaki was busy spreading out the blanket near the edge of the roof while he stopped to sniff at the cyclamen.

_Cyclamen for resignation and goodbye…_ he frowned down at the lovely blossoms. He wondered if anyone sold brain bleach, and if he could get a good supply to wash all that flower language out of his head. It was really too fanciful for him.

"Come see the view," Tamaki called over to him.

"What, is this the point where you push me off?" he joked, but sidled over to his boyfriend's side anyway. His little snigger was abruptly cut short as he took in the city spread out beneath them, the lights making it all seem like a fairy wonderland. They were so high up that the blare of traffic was muted to little more than background noise. He looked down in wonder, a little dizzy from the height. "Wow."

"Yeah… that's really the only word for it," Tamaki murmured. "Sit with me?"

"How did you find this place?" Hikaru marveled as he sat down Indian-style beside him. He'd been proud of finding lots of unique spots in the city, and this was the first time he'd stumbled on such a place. "It's great."

"Well, a few years ago, Kyouya and I were at a party in this hotel…"

At that, Hikaru jumped back up again. "What? You took me somewhere where the demon left his acidic tracks? This is a trap, right? Once I get comfortable, the mouth of hell will open and I'll be sucked right in?"

A flare of anger sparked in his eyes. And for a moment there, he'd thought that Tamaki had never shown the place to anyone else. And of course it had to be the one person in the world he detested the most… "My God, I almost caught the demon cooties from carelessly sitting where the old bat tread…" Never mind, of course, that he had no problem sitting on the furniture in the host club even though Kyouya had used them all at one point or another.

"No, Kyouya never came up here," Tamaki reassured him, tugging him back down before he did something stupid like run off the roof and end up in tomorrow's headlines. "Just me. He stayed at the party like a good boy, even though the guests were really boring. It was nothing but much older people. We were the only ones our age there."

"Figures. That schmoozer," Hikaru muttered as he settled down again. "Of course he wouldn't pass up the chance to brainwash a few rich idiots. Oh no. Heaven—or in his case hell—forbid." Hah. So Tamaki hadn't shown Kyouya here after all.

"But I wandered off and found this place. I'm glad I did."

"Your own special hidey-hole?" Hikaru joked.

"Yes… my own special hidey-hole to share with you, and only you."

* * *

For a moment there Hikaru had thought their date couldn't have gotten any better… and then Tamaki had opened the container of desserts they'd brought along to show off an array of treats that would have had Hunny squealing in delight.

"_Mmm_," he moaned as he raked his fork through the whipped cream on his chocolate cake with an expression that Tamaki privately thought should be made illegal.

"Good?" Tamaki asked as he swallowed his own bite of a creampuff. His mouth was feeling suddenly dry as he watched the other boy. Hikaru looked up at the sound of his voice, and then forked away a little of the cake, extending it to him.

Before he could hand the fork over to the host king, though, Tamaki had opened his mouth and bitten it off. Hikaru flushed—he had the blonde eating out of his hand. Literally.

"Here," Tamaki murmured as he broke off a part of his creampuff. He brought it to Hikaru's mouth, and the redhead reflexively opened up to let him pop it in. Tamaki's fingers lingered a little on his lips, making the younger boy shiver.

"You're surprisingly shy, Hikaru," he said.

"Shy?" Hikaru repeated, scowling.

"It's—"

"If you say cute I'll murder you."

"—adorable," the host king finished with a grin. Hikaru glared at him.

_Shy, huh?_

He stood up. "Kind of warm tonight," he muttered, knowing he was blushing again. Again! He'd bet that he'd flushed more over the last few weeks with the host king than he ever had before in his life. But Hitachiin Hikaru, although he might have been a blusher, was most definitely _not _shy. At least, that was what he told himself. He took off his jacket, then started undoing the buttons on his shirt.

"Hikaru?" the host king asked uncertainly as he tossed it to one side. "What are you doing?"

"It's hot, which is no surprise since I'm here," the redhead said recklessly, suddenly feeling a rush of power when he saw the other boy's eyes follow his hands as they rested on his belt. "And there's a perfectly good pool over there…"

Tamaki shuddered as he watched Hikaru undo his belt and kick of his pants, stripping down to his boxers. For a moment he was afraid that they would come off too—black silk, clinging to his hips—but Hikaru merely dived in. He breathed a soft sigh of mixed relief and disappointment.

But oh God. His little fantasy in the car of seeing that white skin was coming true… and the reality was even better. His gaze raked over the freshman's body, memorizing every line and curve.

He'd known that Hikaru was gorgeous, but this was beyond words.

Hikaru blinked water out of his eyes, pushing his damp hair away from his face. "Coming in? Or are you just going to gawk at me all night?"

"Can I do both?" he asked with perfect seriousness as he yanked off his jacket. "Hikaru, you're so beautiful…"

"Handsome," Hikaru corrected with a little smirk. The smirk faded, though, as he watched Tamaki take off his own clothes and get in the water. "Looks like the boxers or briefs question is answered for you too. Sky blue, huh."

Tamaki smiled. He'd never minded having eyes on him—no surprise, considering the spectacle that he regularly made in the club—and knowing that they were Hikaru's eyes just made him feel even better. "Like what you see?"

"Of course," Hikaru said shamelessly. "I'm a Hitachiin. We don't date ugly people." Then he scowled. "There's that bat out of hell pawing around Kaoru, but he's not exactly vomit-inducing in the looks department. Just in every other department."

"Don't talk about other guys right now," the host king murmured. He reached out for the redhead. "Look at me."

"Demanding, aren't you?" Hikaru asked archly.

"_Yes_," Tamaki said, the word escaping in a hiss. For a moment Hikaru was a little afraid, and the younger boy swam out of the way. The blonde saw the look on his face and refrained from going after him.

"I'm sorry if I scared you."

Hikaru peeked at him from behind his dripping bangs. "I'm not scared of _anything_, let alone a fluffy bunny-lover."

Tamaki shuddered dramatically. "Bunnies actually scare me a little, but don't let Hunny-sempai know that. He'll cry if he finds out."

"You're scared of rabbits?"

"They have… red eyes…" he let out an involuntary whine, and Hikaru laughed.

"And yet you're best friends with the devil himself. Weirdo." He swam back over to his side, and Tamaki seemed to be on his best behavior, so he relaxed.

For a moment they just drifted there, quiet, before Tamaki whispered, "Hikaru… may I…?"

His cheeks immediately burned. "I told you to quit asking me all the time," he mumbled right before the older boy claimed his lips.

_God,_ he thought, as he let out a sound that he would adamantly maintain was not a whimper. He wrapped his arms around Tamaki's neck, hands wandering into his hair. It was impossibly soft. _If kissing feels this good for Kaoru and the piranha, I can see why they always seem to have their mouths glued together and—mmm, do that again…_

After that point, coherent thought simply became impossible.

It seemed like an eternity; it seemed way too short. And then Tamaki broke away from him, carefully watching him for signs of being freaked out. The other boy had a dazed look on his flushed face, and his gaze flickered to Tamaki's lips. He frowned in puzzlement as though he couldn't figure out what Tamaki's mouth was doing over there instead of kissing the hell out of him.

Well, no complaints, apparently.

"Are you all right?" he asked, tucking back a stray clump of wet hair that had fallen into Hikaru's eyes.

The redhead seemed to snap back to reality. "Uh—what?" he managed to ask, as he was still a little out of sorts.

Yep, definitely no complaints.

He scoffed when the question was repeated. "Well, I would be… except that you stopped," he said daringly. _Shy, am I?_

"Well, I'll just have to remedy that," Tamaki murmured with a little grin.

* * *

Later, they were shivering on the blanket, Hikaru pulled onto Tamaki's lap—"For warmth," the sophomore had insisted, as he wrapped his arms around him. "We need to dry off a little before we put on our clothes, or they'll just get soaked too."

In retrospect, it had been a hugely stupid idea to go swimming in the dead of the night with no towels with them and the wind blowing. Still, Hikaru decided that catching pneumonia would be well worth it. And Tamaki's lap was a really comfortable place to sit.

_Not in love, not in love,_ he chanted to himself. _It's just a possibility._

Still, it couldn't hurt to indulge a little in the 'possibility'. Because it really did feel good…

They were finishing up the last of their pastries, Tamaki licking raspberry sauce off his fingers and Hikaru biting into the last of an éclair. "Definitely need to do this again sometime," Hikaru sighed, leaning against him. "If only for the desserts. They're to die for."

"What about me?" Tamaki asked with a hint of a pout in his voice.

"Well, you're more of to die _from_," snorted Hikaru.

"Is that so…"

Hikaru let out a yelp as the older boy's fingers suddenly drifted to his waist and started tickling him, digging into his sensitive sides. "No!" he gasped out, laughing. "D-don't! I'm—"

"Ticklish. So I see," Tamaki said with a wicked grin.

"Nooooooooo!" Hikaru howled, thrashing. Tamaki kept it up for a few more minutes as tears gathered in the younger boy's eyes, and Hikaru started gasping for breath. That look was just so…

He decided he rather liked having a panting, red-faced Hikaru leaning all his weight on him.

"Surrender yet?" he murmured, mouth dipping down to catch Hikaru's ear.

"Cheater," Hikaru groaned, squirming.

"Is that a no?" Tamaki's hands were poised to resume tickling him, and Hikaru's aureate eyes widened in fear.

"I give," he whimpered, curling up against Tamaki's chest. "No more!"

"Good," Tamaki said. "Now I know how to win an argument with you."

Hikaru glared at him. "So do I, I just can't use it right now."

"I'm not ticklish," the sophomore pointed out. "Unless you happen to set Antoinette on me."

"No," Hikaru said with an evil smirk. "I was thinking more along the lines of setting some fluffy little rabbits on you."

Now it was Tamaki's eyes that widened. "No."

"_Yes_," Hikaru said smugly.

The blonde considered. "Maybe there are other ways to win an argument."

"Well, you could try to shut me up, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible," Hikaru snickered.

Tamaki brightened. "No, it isn't. Here, let me demonstrate." He pulled Hikaru close and started kissing him.

When they both came up for air, Hikaru licked his lips—hmm, when did he end up lying on his back? "Okay, that's one way to win the argument," he finally acknowledged as Tamaki settled his weight comfortably on top of him. "But just to be sure, you might want to try that again. I mean. All good researchers double-check their results, you know, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke." He smiled against Tamaki's mouth as the other boy complied.

"I think the experiment was a resounding success," Tamaki said, his voice husky.

"Meh. I bet this is some kind of trick you pull on all the ladies you bring up here. They get scared of the heights, and then they cling to you, and you pull a 'Welcome to my sexy makeout spot, give me your virtue now!'"

"I already told you, Hikaru," Tamaki said with a laugh. "You're the only one I've ever brought up here with me. And you aren't scared of heights…"

"And I'm not clinging onto you either," Hikaru pointed out, although anyone else would have said that the way he was practically stuck on to the host king meant otherwise. "And you are definitely not taking my virtue now."

"You're hardly virtuous," Tamaki chuckled.

"Can't argue with that," Hikaru agreed. "Vice is too much fun."

"Contrary to everything, though… it appears the 'sexy makeout spot works'." Hikaru opened his mouth to object, but Tamaki silenced him, pressing a finger to his lips. "But you're right… I wouldn't take advantage of you like that," the blonde whispered.

"Too right. You'd get a good right hook in the face if you tried," he replied flippantly. He shivered. It was still freezing up there. Tamaki rubbed his arms gently to try to warm him up, and Hikaru let a soft sigh escape him. "Yeah… I know you wouldn't. You… protect me."

_I will,_ Tamaki vowed. _Even if the only way to protect you is to leave you._

* * *

The car ride back was silent (and a bit wet, as they hadn't completely managed to dry off, but they had the heater going, and Hikaru was thankful for the warmth that washed over him). Tamaki seemed lost in thought, studying him one moment and then looking away the next. And Hikaru… well, Hikaru was having a lively conversation.

With himself.

_I don't love him_, he thought desperately. _I just had fun with him, that's all._

_With a little random smooching on the side?_ His inner voice replied snarkily.

_Well, nothing wrong with a good dose of kissing now and then. I'm a teenager. We have impulses, you know._

_Sure. And so you wouldn't have a problem doing it with Hunny-sempai?_

_AW, HELL NO! _He winced at the thought. Not that the senior wasn't cute or anything, but it would practically feel like pedophilia to him. Plus he really couldn't deal with the reality of a guy who only came up to about his chest and who could beat him to a pulp if he wanted to. He complained at his mental voice. _Did you have to put that image in my head?_

_Hey, I'm you. You're the one doing it all. So really, it's your own fault for being so messed-up and thinking of Hunny-sempai that way…_

_I do not!_

_Do too._

_Do not—whatever. This is too kindergarten for me._

_Suits you, then. You have all the brain power of a five-year-old._

He attempted to glare at his subconscious, but considering it was all in his head it proved to be much too difficult. _You just insulted yourself too, you know._

_It's okay. Milord's pretty much an overgrown kid anyway, right?_

_He's actually more mature than you think._

Damn. He realized too late what his mental voice had been doing. _Aha! So you admit it._

_Reverse psychology is a low blow! I can't. I can't like him. He's too… blonde._

His inner voice cackled with delight. _Hey, you know what they say… blondes have more fun. Ever seen that film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?_

He rolled his eyes. _You're my inner voice, you _know _that Kaoru made us sit through that five times._ _But I liked Haruhi._

_Liked being the operative term. She was interesting. She could tell you and Kaoru apart. But she doesn't need you, and you'll never be the center of her world… and you're not someone who can handle that. Besides, do you really want to take on Mori-sempai?_

_Why don't you just phrase it this way: Are you suicidal?_

_Exactly. And you haven't gotten this far without any self-preservation instincts. But still, don't you think it was awfully easy for you to step out of the way when Mori-sempai made his move? _

_Well, Mori-sempai is a good guy…_

_And if he kissed milord, how would you feel?_

He glared out the window, hands curling up into angry fists. Tamaki was getting amused just watching him make lots of different faces as he had an internal debate, but he stayed quiet for fear of the redhead noticing his observation.

_I would disembowel him._ And to his consternation, the 'him' that he meant was Mori, not Tamaki.

_Ooh, disembowel. Hikaru used a big word._

He groaned. _Why the hell does my inner voice sound like Kaoru?_

_Eh, who knows? Maybe you just recognize your gorgeous twin's genius?_

A sour look stole over his features. _Great. Now even Kaoru's learned brainwashing techniques from his freaky boyfriend. No wonder my inner voice is busy trying to convince me that I… that I…_

_Love milord? Well, you do. And sorry, not brainwashing from Kaoru, because I heartily agree on that piranha being freaky. Which reminds me, we haven't tried to kill him recently. _

He bit his lip. _What if… what if milord…_

_Doesn't like you the way you think he does? _

_Yes._

_ARE YOU STUPID? DO YOU NOT HAVE EYES OR SOMETHING? WERE YOU NOT THERE FOR THE LAST FEW HOURS?_ He grimaced at his subconscious's scolding. _Anyone can tell he thinks you made the sun, moon and stars. And who wouldn't like you anyway? You're fabulous!_

He preened a little. Well, he couldn't exactly argue with that. _Too true._

_Listen up already. Not only do you not mind kissing him, you enjoy it. You have fun talking to him. You care about what happens to him—and shut up, don't tell me you don't! I'm _you _so I can tell when you're lying. If you didn't care about him, you wouldn't be so careful about the topics with his family. You don't want him to get hurt so even if you're one of the most insensitive idiots on the planet, you're careful in how you treat him. You have no problem telling him all about yourself, and you're comfortable with him getting closer and closer to knowing you._

Hikaru blinked. _I'm not insensitive! Why the hell am I insulting myself?_

…_stop trying to change the subject, moron._

He groaned. His mental voice was just too smart for him.

_I'm in love with milord._

His subconscious snickered. _Very good, Hikaru. A big gold star for finally opening up to your feelings. And it's about time, too. What the heck were you waiting for?_

Yes, Kaoru had _definitely _done something with his brain. He let out a little groan.

"Are you all right, Hikaru?" Tamaki finally ventured, even though he'd been fascinated by all the different expressions that had crossed Hikaru's face in the past few minutes.

"I just lost an argument," Hikaru complained.

"With who?" Suddenly Tamaki wondered if Hikaru had any invisible friends. Maybe considering that his 'search for the next Kaoru' hadn't gotten him a Kaoru—it had given him, well… a Tamaki. Not that that was a bad thing. But maybe not getting the 'next Kaoru' had driven him to invent a new one.

"With myself."

"Oh." So much for that theory, then.

"You can wipe the 'talking-to-a-crazy-person' look off your face anytime now, milord," the redhead said dryly.

"I didn't think you were crazy. I'm not exactly the best judge of sanity."

Hikaru choked back a laugh. "Too true… but I didn't know you actually knew that."

"We're here," Tamaki murmured, brushing his thumb across Hikaru's knuckles as the car pulled to a stop in the Hitachiin's circular driveway. "Be sure to run a hot bath as soon as you get in—I don't want you getting sick."

Hikaru laughed. "Yeah. God, my boxers are still wet as hell." Tamaki blushed deeply at his words, and he could once again feel the driver's eyes on them. He stared daggers back at the man as he got out first to help his boyfriend out of the car, ignoring the typical protests ("What do you think I am, some girl? Chivalry is dead, why can't you let it stay that way?").

The redhead glanced at the window and groaned when he saw the lights on in the living room. "They're waiting up for me, aren't they?" he ground out, glaring at the window as though it had just insulted his outfit.

Tamaki couldn't exactly argue when he saw three pairs of eyes peek out of the glass before they ducked back out of sight. "Well, maybe they were just concerned…" Suddenly he realized how rumpled they both looked, and he hoped that their father didn't jump to conclusions.

"More like waiting to give me the third-degree," the younger boy muttered, rolling his eyes. He looked up at Tamaki with a pleading, puppy-dog expression. "How about I get back in the car, you whisk me off somewhere, and I'll let you have your wicked way with me in exchange for not letting me face those three?"

Tamaki laughed. "Tempting," he murmured, pulling him close. "We could run off, go somewhere with a lot of sun…" _Away from meddling parents… or in my case, grandparent._ "But then Kaoru would just make Kyouya chase after us."

Hikaru heaved a long-suffering sigh. "And we can't have the demon traipsing all over the world. It'll be the end of humanity as we know it, when he spreads his hell-germs everywhere." He smiled. "Well… I'd better… get going inside. The longer I put it off the more they're going to grill me about what we were talking about."

The blonde sighed, not releasing him. He lowered his lips to the shell of Hikaru's ear. "I love you," he whispered. "No matter what, I do."

Hikaru didn't blush, just looked up at him, and then slowly rose up on his toes to press a chaste kiss to his lips. "Goodnight, milord," he murmured, before taking off towards his door.

Tamaki watched him go. "Goodbye, Hikaru."

* * *

A/N: Liked it? Hated it? Feedback is always appreciated (nudge, nudge). More reviews equals faster updates. I'd also like to know if you'd prefer me to prioritize updating this story or posting a KyouyaxKaoru oneshot next. Never fear, though, I WILL FINISH THIS STORY. Even if Hikaru and Tamaki often spiral out of my writer control. I swear, it's like they just yank me around whichever way they want.

Hope you all have a great September, and have a lovely, fudge-filled cupcake day!


	7. Crash

A/N: Hey all. I'm having the most hellish day ever, and the week only promises to get worse. With the end of the semester coming up, we've been overloaded with academics and work for my organization, so I've been really busy recently. I even missed an anime convention, and I'm regretting it a lot. Anyway, thank the Shadow King I managed to get this written, as I promised somerdaye that I would.

Speaking of somerdaye... I would like to thank this -er in particular for the lovely PMs and for all the friends she got to read my work. Reading your messages makes my day. :)

I would also like to say thank you to Queen Creampuff, the craziest, funniest pastry out there. Without her this chapter-this story-would not have been possible. She's also the only person replying to my frantic messages to my groupmates asking about our cases, so I bow down and worship her for saving me on that note.

Love to all my reviewers for the last chapter: powderfaith, Full-Empty Spirit, Angel015, Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, Always a Bookworm, Awesomealy29, xRosePetalx, porcelainanimals, Jillkun-ness, iPercy, FifteenthVector, O.o, Rouge, pi-or-pie, Krazy Kitsune13, Nikita-chan6, .NOT., MentalNinja, chobncheese, and of course, the lovely Queen Creampuff.

I think the next thing I post will be a oneshot instead of a chapter update, unless I get convinced otherwise. This time most of you preferred an update or were indifferent as opposed to supporting the oneshot, but next time will probably be different. Anyway... angst ahead, appropriate to my current mood. You've been warned.

* * *

Chapter Six: Crash

"You're not even half-trying," Hikaru complained as his character drop-kicked Tamaki's to a bloody, pixilated death onscreen. Where Kyouya and Kaoru made it a point to regularly visit art galleries, Hikaru and Tamaki regularly made it a point to test out the latest games. Mostly because Tamaki wanted to please Hikaru, and Hikaru… well, Hikaru liked to please himself.

Right now, however, he wasn't pleased at all. "What's wrong with you? I mean, you don't suck normally…" He paused. "Okay, you do, but not this much." He paused again. "Okay, fine, you do, but then you carry on wailing about me picking on you and then you try to challenge me to a rematch, which, of course, you lose again… and again and again." He nudged the host king with his foot. "Stop sitting there like a lump and spit out whatever it is that's more important than Mega Mutilation Ninja Girl Five.."

Tamaki managed a weak smile. "It's nothing. I'm just thinking."

"Color me shocked," he deadpanned as he switched off the game. "What about now? Are the unicorns in your little internal world getting slaughtered by the evil, red-eyed bunnies or something?"

"I was thinking of how much I love you, that's all." Hikaru, Hikaru with the way he smirked while playing games, his thumbs moving rapidly on the buttons. The way he was so smug about winning afterwards but hated it when you let him win without a good fight. Tamaki wished he could feel his heart clench, the way they said it did in stories, but all he could feel was a sort of painful emptiness. He'd spent all of last night, after their date, attempting to call his father… only to be told that he was away. More of his grandmother's doing? He knew his father wasn't in control of the company enough to stand up for him anyway. If his father couldn't prevail on his grandmother to allow him in the first house, what were the chances that he would be able to change her mind on something of this magnitude? "I… I love you so much."

Hikaru blinked, then shrugged. "And how exactly is that more important than Mega Mutilation Ninja Girl Five?" He leaned against Tamaki. "Look, I know I'm an insensitive guy—kind of proud of it, too—but I'm _trying _here." _I really am._

"Hikaru… I think it's better if we end this."

The redhead blinked again. The host king was making no sense whatsoever. "I already turned the game off."

"No, I mean this… our relationship."

At that, Hikaru set down his game controller. He took a deep breath, counting to three in his head, before he spoke. "I thought you just said that you were thinking of how much you love me."

"And I do."

"And last night you said you loved me no matter what."

Tamaki looked away. "No matter what, Hikaru."

"So you love me, but you're leaving me."

"That's right."

There was a beat of silence before the redhead cut through it again. "I'm sure that there's some big, shoujo manga-type dramatic reasoning for this." Hikaru narrowed his eyes at him. "So are you going to tell me or what?" The other boy shook his head. "Of course not. How classic. Could you be any more of a cliché?"

"I'm sorry," the host king said, standing up. "Can we… well… still be…"

"Friends?" Hikaru snorted. He got off the floor, then flopped onto his bed. He was afraid that if he didn't, he would chuck his game controller at Tamaki. _And of course this happens after I realize that I return your feelings._ The universe really had a sick sense of humor."Sure. I saw this coming at the school rooftop, remember? 'You go your way and I'll go mine, hopefully without any residual weirdness'. Turns out my prediction was only late by a couple of weeks. Come back anytime you want to get your ass kicked at video games. Shut the door on your way out, and I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Tamaki nodded, then ducked his head as he left.

He flipped open his phone and hit one of the numbers on speed dial, gritting his teeth together from keeping the tears from spilling out.

"Well?" the voice on the other line demanded.

"It's done," he said flatly. Was that really him talking? It sounded dead and hollow even to his own ears.

"Good. Someday you'll thank me for this." And with that the call disconnected. He looked down at his phone in disbelief. He had just given up Hikaru for her, and that was all she could say?

_Monster_, he hissed inwardly.

"How did it go?"

He snapped out of his furious reverie at the sound of his best friend's voice. "K-Kyouya? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick up Kaoru, but then a maid told me that you were here, so I decided to look in on you." The Shadow King studied him. "I think I can assume that you have done the necessary. Are you all right?"

Tamaki inhaled. "I'm okay."

Kyouya waited. Five… four… three… two…

The blonde began blubbering in his arms. "I had to leave him, Kyouya…"

"Yes, yes, I know," the Shadow King sighed, reaching up a hand to stroke his hair. They had spent ages discussing it, and he knew that it was broke Tamaki's heart to do it. "You really care for him, Tamaki. I'm sorry." He was tempted to add the words 'for your loss' to the end of it, but it sounded too horribly close to consoling someone for the death of a loved one.

He shuddered. It probably seemed that way to Tamaki; he had killed _his_ Hikaru and ended up with just… a Hikaru. Someone who would be around but whom he would never be able to touch.

"I don't know… he seemed to just accept it… I wish I knew what was going through his head right now…"

Inside his room, Hikaru was muttering "_Shit!_" over and over again into his pillow, balling his hands into fists on the covers.

_He loves me. But he's breaking up with me. What does that even mean? He likes me but… it's not challenging anymore?_

_He doesn't want me because now I want him?_

"Hikaru will be all right," Kyouya insisted to Tamaki. "Worry about yourself more, idiot." He sighed. There wasn't much that he could say. _We're young, Tamaki. You'll get over it. Give it a few years—a few months, even, or who knows, a few weeks—and you'll be over it. It was just a fleeting fancy. _But he couldn't say something like that. He knew what it was like to fall in love completely, and to plan your entire life around that person.

"Sempai?" He turned slightly to see Kaoru, already dressed to go out. Kaoru stared at the two of them, Kyouya holding Tamaki tight as the other boy wept. "What… what's going on?"

Kyouya shushed Tamaki. "They… well. They broke up."

Kaoru paled. _No… _

"Ah…" He cleared his throat. "I take it we should cancel our plans?"

"That would help," Kyouya said quietly, still stroking Tamaki's hair. "I'll call you later, Kaoru."

"Okay," the redhead said. "I'll go… go check on Hikaru." He briefly touched Tamaki's arm. "I'm so sorry, milord."

Tamaki couldn't look at him. Kaoru looked too much like Hikaru. Sounded just like Hikaru.

_Everything I can never have._

"Let's go," Kyouya sighed, loosening his hold on Tamaki.

* * *

His door opened gently, and Hikaru knew it was Kaoru. Kaoru disliked slamming doors, so he had a peculiar way of opening doors to make sure that they make almost no noise. He could bet that it wasn't Tamaki again, not after what had happened, and besides the blond was pretty noisy; and the maids never came into his room when he was inside if they could help it. The salamander-and-fireworks incident had never been forgotten.

The bed dipped under his twin's weight as he sat beside his face-down body. "Hey," Kaoru said, gently stroking his hair. Hikaru immediately leaned into his touch, and he couldn't help smiling sadly down at him. "You want to talk about it?"

"I'm the manly twin, remember?" he said, voice muffled by his pillow. "I don't talk, I just smash things."

Kaoru sighed. "If you're so upset about it, why'd you dump him?"

At that, Hikaru raised his head to look at him in puzzlement. "Dump him? I didn't. He dumped me." He cringed as what he'd just said hit him. "Eew, that sounds so… pathetic. On second thought, I like your version of the story better."

"Wait… _he _dumped _you_?"

"Stop rubbing it in," grumbled Hikaru. He'd always thought that if someone were to walk away from their relationship, it would be him. Mostly because _Hitachiins never get dumped._

Well, he sure changed that rule.

And mostly because he'd been so sure of how Tamaki had felt.

_Well, that sure changed too, didn't it?_

_When he says he loves me now, no matter what, he means as a friend. When he said 'no matter what', he probably meant, 'even if we break up let's be pals and not cause havoc for the Host Club'._ He clenched his teeth at the thought.

"He… I was sure you'd been the one to do it. He looked really heartbroken out there. He was crying." _All over my boyfriend,_ he added silently. But he didn't have issues with it; after all, Kyouya wouldn't have a problem with him comforting his brother in this situation.

_I am not jealous._

"Probably buried in his delusions of being some tragic hero in a depressing romance story," snorted Hikaru.

"It just makes no sense. He adores you. The way he looks at you… it's the same expression I see in Kyouya-sempai's eyes when he looks at me." Kaoru shook his head, frowning. "Why would he break up with you?" Then his eyes widened in horror as he recalled all the havoc they'd wreaked at social gatherings before. "Oh God, Hikaru, what on earth did you do last night? You didn't set any place on fire, did you? Or did you start throwing silverware again?"

"What? No!" Hikaru glared at him, then shivered at the recollection of kissing in the pool. "It was… the date went okay."

"Yeah. You looked over the moon last night," Kaoru murmured. He and their mother had attempted to pry details out of him, but Hikaru had clammed up and headed straight for the bath. Of course, his twin had had no idea that the maid who had to carry out his used clothes had been accosted by his parents, and his soaked boxers had been discovered.

Though Hikaru _might _have gotten a clue that they knew, based on all the pamphlets on sex education that had been put next to his plate at breakfast (which had resulted in Hikaru retaliating by supergluing them all to one of Kaoru's pictures of Kyouya along with a note that read, 'Do demons carry the same STDs that humans do? And what do you think you'll catch from cross-breeding with a bat?'—Kaoru had _not _been amused).

"Well, I beat him at video games. And I told him that he sucked at them. Does that count as a valid reason?"

Kaoru smacked him upside the head. "Ow!" yelped Hikaru. "Is that any way to treat someone who's depressed?"

The younger redhead snorted and resumed stroking his hair, ignoring Hikaru's mutterings about 'sadistic little brothers who smack around their gorgeous twins'. "You can take it." He looked closely at Hikaru. "You… you really _are _depressed." Hikaru liked to sulk quite a bit, but he also liked to be flippant about the things that affected him. "I've never seen you this torn up before."

"Yeah, now I have no one to beat at Mega Mutilation Ninja Girl Five. Give me a break, Kaoru, it's not the end of the world."

"I'm your twin, Hikaru. I know you. Plus, that game sucked. Too many panty shots."

"Just 'cause you're gay doesn't mean you can't appreciate some fine virtual skin… ouch!"

"And just 'cause you're hurt doesn't mean that I'm giving you license to be a jackass, Hikaru."

"You never give me any license to be a jackass!"

"Don't make me bring in witnesses. They'd completely fill up the room," Kaoru said lightly, trying to buy time while he pondered over the problem. That, and hopefully prod Hikaru into getting angry instead of being sad. He couldn't bear it when his twin was hurting. A furious Hikaru he could restrain… but a sad Hikaru was not something he knew how to handle.

"Seriously, depressed person over here, can I get any sympathy? No, of course not." He rolled his eyes. "He spouted this really crap line about how he was thinking of how much he loved me, then the next thing I knew he said he wanted to break up."

Kaoru's hand stilled. "Did you… love him, Hikaru?"

"He made a good pet—_ow!_ What was that one for?"

"I'm going to hit you every time you lie from now on," Kaoru told him.

"Fine." Hikaru took a deep breath. He really, really hated talking about personal stuff, even if it _was _with Kaoru. All that soul-searching was definitely not him. He swallowed hard, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Sometime before Christmas, please," Kaoru said dryly.

"Shut up," the other redhead snapped, but now the tension was gone. He leaned back on his pillows. "I… at first I just kept telling myself that it was crazy. That milord was being stupid—well, stupider than usual. You can't blame me. You saw how it all started out. Then he got serious and I told myself I didn't care one way or another. Even if his feelings intensified, it didn't matter…"

Kaoru shook his head. "You're someone who feels more than thinks. I can't imagine you reacting that way, especially when you're the kind who gets won over by someone serious about you."

Hikaru looked away. "Well, it turns out he isn't. And so what? The kissing was okay, so…"

"I thought he had really bad technique," Kaoru mused, tapping his fingers on his chin as he thought back to how Kyouya had used only one word to describe the kiss he had shared with Tamaki: _wet._

Hikaru stared at him. "And… how would you know that? You haven't been smooching milord, have you?" Something flared in chest. It felt kind of like that time when he'd been trying to keep that guy in Karuizawa away from Haruhi.

Wait, he wasn't jealous… right? He blinked, then tried to hit himself. _This is ridiculous. _I'm _ridiculous. _"You were kissing him, weren't you?"

Kaoru turned pink. "Don't be stupid. First of all, I have Kyouya-sempai, who happens to be the most kissable person on the planet." He ignored his brother's muttered, "Person? More like piranha" except to swat lightly at his head. "Secondly, you're my brother. I would never steal your boyfriend. And thirdly, no offense to milord or anything, but _eew_."

Hikaru let out an unwilling laugh. "Yeah. Good point… or points, as the case stands."

"You never answered my question properly. Did—_do you love him_?"

"Ugh, the L word. I hate that word."

The younger twin's grabbed his arm. "Hikaru, look at me."

The twins locked eyes for a moment, gold meeting gold, before Hikaru looked away and Kaoru sighed. "Since when?" he murmured.

"Last night, I kept fighting with myself," Hikaru admitted. "And by the way, my internal voice sounds annoyingly like you. I realized I was making all sorts of excuses and reasons to stay away from milord… but even I knew I was lying to myself."

He scowled. "None of it makes sense, Hikaru. Why would he dump you just like that? The way he was looking at you… And you, why would you date him in the first place if you didn't love him?"

"Because… because it seemed like fun," Hikaru muttered. "You know, blond ditz, evil redhead, put them together and you've got a recipe for instant entertainment. And it doesn't hurt that I have hormones. You know, he's got that pretty-boy blond thing rocking. And… he's kind of attackable." Kaoru hit him again.

"Don't lie to me, Hitachiin Hikaru." Kaoru climbed on top of him and pinned his wrists down. "Now start talking."

"Ooh, kinky. I never knew you were into this kind of play, Kaoru. Your twitchy boyfriend taught you this?"

"What do you think it's like for me, watching you be like this?" He swallowed hard. "I never asked you what it felt like for you last time, when sempai and I got into a fight. And now I know. I can't stand it, Hikaru. It probably killed you to watch it before."

"Stop it," Hikaru muttered, remembering just what he had done to his brother. "That was my fault."

"You're hiding something from me," Kaoru said flatly. "When you lie, you scrunch your nose up and curl your toes."

"I do?" Hikaru asked, looking down at his feet.

"No, I was just checking whether you really were lying. You scrunch your nose up and curl your toes in the shower," the other redhead told him. "So you _are _lying to me. Which means you're trying to protect me… from something I did?"

"You didn't do anything," Hikaru countered.

"Liar."

"It's true!"

"Partly true, then," he mused, considering the expression on his brother's face. "But I'm involved somehow." A statement, not a question, and he wasn't surprised when he felt Hikaru shift under his hands. "You're trying to do something for me?"

"Leave it alone, Kaoru," Hikaru muttered. "It's over. Milord broke up with me so in the end it was useless anyway."

"It's not over, whatever it is. If you could see what I'm seeing right now…" Kaoru tightened his grip on his wrists. "How did you feel when you saw what happened to me when sempai and I were fighting?"

The older boy's jaw tightened. "There aren't words for it, Kaoru," he mumbled. "I was so guilty and I kept on with it. I kept telling myself I was _right_, that you would thank me, even when I saw it was killing you inside."

His twin nodded. "So how do you think I'll feel, knowing that whatever's torturing you like this is related to me somehow?"

"Kaoru…"

"_I love you, Hikaru_," he hissed. "You're my brother, for God's sake! We're twins. We promised that we'd be closer than anything in this world."

Hikaru looked away. "Kaoru… I think there's something you need to know…"

* * *

It was late by the time Kyouya had tucked Tamaki into bed. The other boy, even though he was just his age, seemed so much younger. Like an overgrown baby. He'd stayed with him all night, soothing him while the blonde had cried himself to sleep. For a moment, as Kyouya was closing the door, he'd thought that he saw him with his thumb in his mouth… but no. Probably just a manifestation of his mother hen tendencies.

"There you are, Kyouya," Fuyumi greeted him. She put her hands on his hips. "Is Tamaki-kun all right yet?" She had been in the living room when they'd come in, and having got on so well with Tamaki before, she was naturally worried about him.

"He'll survive." Kyouya sighed and took off his glasses, massaging his forehead. At least he hoped he would.

"Good, because I have a bone to pick with you."

He frowned at her. "_Now_? Is this something urgent, or can it wait until morning?"

"It's already morning. Two in the morning, to be precise." She grabbed his arm, led him to the living room, and sat him down on the couch across her. "What's going on with Kaoru-kun?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "Kaoru?"

"Yes, Kaoru! He's been acting strange lately."

"Oh. He's been very concerned about Hikaru and Tamaki," he replied. "He keeps insisting that we discuss it." Kyouya's lips pursed into a thin line. "I would prefer to draw his attention away from such tiresome issues when I can handle them well enough for both of us. But I suppose his persistence is to be expected. He loves his brother a great deal, after all."

Fuyumi studied him. "Oh Kyouya, you're not jealous, are you?"

"If I were, I certainly wouldn't be ridiculous enough to tell you," he answered evenly. "Nor ridiculous enough to let such a petty, irrational emotion affect my actions. I… have faith in Kaoru."

"Oh, but you doubt. Of course." She shook her head. "Irrational indeed. You're not some machine, Kyouya."

"Hikaru would beg to differ."

"Well, Hikaru's a moron." The siblings looked up to see a tired-looking Kaoru standing near them. "Hi. Tachibana-san let me in."

"Kaoru? What on earth are you doing here at this time… is something wrong?" Kyouya hurried over to him. He was still wearing the same clothes he had had on when Kyouya had left earlier.

"Sorry. I should have called or something. But I need to talk to you." Kaoru rested his head on Kyouya's shoulder. "And when I'm done you can tell me to walk right out the door and lie on the road."

Kyouya hugged him tight, alarmed by the dead sound of his lover's voice. Kaoru looked as though a bomb had just exploded inside of him, leaving a crater behind in its wake. "I don't understand. What are you talking about? No matter what it is…" He looked over at Fuyumi, who nodded and slipped out to leave them alone.

She rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her. _Men. _Honestly. It was about time they got their acts together.

"Everything… it was because of _me_," he mumbled. "Hikaru told me…" The story spilled out of him. "I didn't know it would end up like this. I thought he was asleep at the time."

"Kaoru…" He pulled away for a moment to look into the younger boy's eyes, which were, to his surprise, dry. He breathed a soft sigh of relief. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know that. At least I do logically. Here, though," he said, touching a hand to where his heart was, "I have a harder time convincing myself of that." He gazed up at Kyouya. "Sempai, I can't change who I am. I'll always be the kind of person who'll drive himself nuts overthinking things. And I have an inferiority complex, I know. When it comes down to it, we all do."

"I know that, Kaoru. I don't love you any less for any of those things."

"I'm not making excuses for myself," the aureate-eyed boy said clearly. "What I _am _trying to say is that I'm human. Everyone looks at us like we're this perfect couple, and to me… we are. But that doesn't mean we're not going to go through things like being jealous every now and then, even if that emotion is crazy. Sometimes feelings aren't rational, anyway." He squeezed Kyouya's hand. "I never doubted you. I was jealous, sure, and I can tell you that now, but even when that stupid little voice in my head nagged me about my insecurities, I knew you would never do something like that to me."

Kyouya sighed and cradled him close. "Kaoru, this is my fault as well. I should have talked things over with you. The real reason why I was so worried about Tamaki and Hikaru was that… well, Tamaki has family issues. And I knew that Hikaru wasn't in a relationship with him because he loved him. That was all. It never crossed my mind to like Tamaki again."

Kaoru frowned at him. "You could have told me. That would have made things a lot easier."

Kyouya nodded slowly. "I know. I should have talked to you."

"Then why didn't…?" He trailed off as the Shadow King carefully schooled his features into an expressionless mask, and then he groaned. "Let me guess. You were trying to protect me again? Just like Hikaru. I swear you two operate on the same brain waves sometimes."

"Heaven forbid," he replied in chilly tones. Then he softened. "I don't want you to think about any of that, Kaoru. Because…"

"Because I'll compare our situation to theirs," Kaoru finished as the pieces all came into place. Of course. "Milord may love Hikaru the way you love me, but you aren't milord. If it's you, sempai, I'm not going to worry about where this relationship is going to go."

"Straight to the altar," Kyouya declared.

"And right to bed after," he agreed with a little smirk.

"Minx."

Kaoru sighed. "But now milord's hurt because of me… and Hikaru too."

"Hikaru?"

"Well…" he hesitated. "He never actually came out and said it, but he loves him. Hikaru has a horror of the word 'love'."

"Yes, so I've noticed," Kyouya murmured, recalling all the times the rambunctious Hitachiin had pretended to projectile-vomit whenever he and Kaoru said the words 'I love you' to each other. Well, either projectile-vomit or attempt to kill him. Whichever struck his fancy first.

"But I'm his twin. I could _tell._ He loves milord."

Coming from anyone else but Kaoru, the Shadow King would have laughed it off and shaken his head, perhaps checked the person into a mental institution. But coming from his boyfriend's lips… "That fool." Kyouya sighed. He supposed that in light of recent events, it wasn't all that surprising that Hikaru had fallen for Tamaki. It had always been a possibility… so long as the redhead would admit that to himself. "It is _not _your fault, Kaoru. But I wish… next time you're jealous, tell me."

"You're never jealous."

"Oh no?" Kyouya raised an eyebrow, and even though it galled him to admit it, if it would make Kaoru feel better he would. Damn the boy for destroying his reputation for being the Shadow King… but he wouldn't have it any other way. He caressed Kaoru's cheek with a little laugh. "Do you know what it's like, knowing that you live under the same roof as the former object of your affections?"

"Y-yeah, well, you were hugging milord," returned Kaoru.

"The fact that you find that something out of the ordinary is already a sort of proof of how Tamaki and I aren't that close. You and Hikaru hug on a daily basis. No one finds it strange. You're brothers, but that doesn't make me any less watchful. I know better than to act on my jealousy, just the way you do, but sometimes… it's a very tempting idea to retaliate when he attempts to murder me." Kyouya sighed. "I do feel jealous… not just of Hikaru, even. If you only knew how many boys and girls look at you!"

"How would you know?" Kaoru wondered. "Oh wait, you're sempai." He paused. "And… how many of them have you… _persuaded_… to keep away from me?"

Kyouya cleared his throat. "Well, that's not really…" He fought to keep a straight expression but ended up smirking. "A few," he allowed.

"Does this explain why Nakano-san ran away screaming when I tried to ask him about homework?"

The smirk became even smugger, if that were possible. "If he ran away just because of the little warning I gave him, he's not even worthy to be in the running for your affection."

Kaoru let out a little giggle before sobering. "And then the girls said that you never forget your first love, and then I just got… carried away."

Kyouya snorted. "Kaoru, if you never forget your first love, are you telling me that you still look at Hikaru that way?"

"Oh," Kaoru said in a small voice. "I see your point. And now… I feel really, really stupid. Do you hate me?" he asked, burrowing closer into his arms.

"No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous. If I hated you, I wouldn't have anyone attempting to take off my tie in school, or cheekily trying to manipulate me…" Kyouya laughed. "I don't know how I'd ever bear the torture."

"I'm sorry," Kaoru murmured.

"Don't you have faith in me?"

"I believe in you completely."

Then…?" His eyes narrowed. "Good heavens. Don't tell me you don't believe in yourself?"

Kaoru smiled up at him sheepishly. "What? I'm the modest twin, remember? Hikaru's the one who extols his own virtues at the top of his lungs."

"This coming from someone who regularly admires his own beauty and wit," Kyouya snorted.

"Oh no, sempai, I know I'm as perfect as mere mortals can be…" Kaoru's smile turned wistful. "It's just that sometimes, you seem so beyond that. Hikaru was right, you really are a demon king. No wonder I don't feel like I measure up."

"It's not _you _I don't believe in, sempai. It's me." Kaoru looked up at him. "Thinking… well … why me?"

Kyouya shook his head. "The next time you start doubting, Kaoru, remember this: you're Hitachiin Kaoru, and I'm Ootori Kyouya. And you made me fall in love with you, to the point that I had no qualms admitting it in front of anyone, not even my family, to the point that I want to grow old beside you and have children with you. I'm going to marry you, Hitachiin Kaoru. I'll never allow you to insult yourself like that because I was the one who chose you. And I—"

"Never choose the wrong option," Kaoru finished with a grin. Kyouya was always so confident, and it was just one of those 'would-hate-it-if-it-were-anyone-else' qualities that made his heart warm towards the older boy.

The Shadow King smirked. "Exactly. If you can't trust yourself, have faith that I at least know who's right for me." He kissed the top of his head. "Never forget that."

* * *

Monday. Hikaru, unlike most students, loved Mondays: the start of another week to cause mayhem. But today he'd already managed to glue the teacher's desk to the ceiling, dye the class president's hair pink, and put it an order for a thousand pizzas to be delivered to the school cafeteria. It was the end of the day and he still wasn't feeling happy.

Of course Tamaki hadn't come to his class to greet him good morning. The gossip had made his head ache, but Kaoru had deftly started throwing things and gotten everyone to shut up (it was hard not to shut up when dictionaries were flying around). By the end of the next period, everyone who'd been part of the rumor-mongering found tadpoles in their pencil cases… though where Kaoru had gotten tadpoles on such short notice remained a mystery to all and sundry.

Kyouya came to see him right before club started just as Hikaru was writing his apology essay for the day (_I will not set the class representative's desk on fire even though I really want to do so and obviously it's totally fun AND ARSON ROCKS)_. "Hikaru… thank you. For… well… it was a very noble thing to do, if misguided."

He jerked his head up tiredly. "Damn. Kaoru has a really big mouth."

"You must be joking. He was so tight-lipped about the situation that I had difficulty deciphering his thoughts. If he'd told me from the beginning we might have prevented everything from happening." Kyouya looked at him closely. The other boy's body was tense, as though he were all wired up. "Are you all right, Hikaru?"

"Of course I am! What the hell, just 'cause we broke up you think I'm going to break down?" He had now convinced himself that the break-up had been mutual and he had not just been dumped flat on his ass.

Except for the fact that he, well, had been.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first one in the club to have a breakdown from love."

"Isn't that because you and Kaoru are such weirdoes?" The Shadow King suddenly clicked on the fact that Hikaru wasn't denying that he _was _in love. Of course, if he pointed it out, Hikaru would probably object loudly, so he decided to keep mum and pretend that he hadn't noticed.

"Naturally so, and we adore each other for it." Kyouya smirked. "I'd like to apologize to how I spoke to you previously. I only wished to keep you away from Tamaki because I knew that your motives weren't genuine before."

The redhead sounded as if he were talking to himself rather than Kyouya. "Great… do you think you could maybe make it go back that way? Use your demon powers to turn back time?"

Kyouya nodded to himself. Hikaru _was _in love with Tamaki. Which meant that they had to start acting fast.

"I'm afraid that my fiendish abilities are offline right now. Business hours only, you see."

"Demons are such cheapskates."

"I'm afraid that generosity is a virtue, and as such is out of my realm." Kyouya looked at him closely. There were dark shadows under his eyes, as though he hadn't gotten much sleep. Which, of course, he hadn't. He looked as though he would keel over if Kyouya so much as breathed in his direction. "Do you perhaps want to take the day off from club today?"

"I'm not that much of a sissy."

"Falling in love doesn't make you a sissy, Hikaru."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Then explain to me why Kaoru cries while reading romance novels."

"That was only once. He had allergies that day."

"So he claims…"

"Don't push yourself too much, Hikaru. Making jokes like this, pretending that everything's all right… it'll only hurt you more in the end. If you feel like crying, then cry. Why should you fake a smile when it isn't what you feel?"

"Hypocrite."

"I'm part-demon part-machine, remember, Hikaru? Those lines don't apply to me," Kyouya said with a little smile.

Hikaru grinned savagely, looking like a wounded animal baring its fangs in a last-ditch attempt to look strong. "Do you really think that I can be hurt that easily?"

Kyouya studied him before softly uttering one word. "Yes."

* * *

Tamaki came in just then. He froze when he saw them talking, but forced a cheerful expression onto his face. "Hi!" he said brightly. He tried to flounce in as usual, but it looked more like a funeral march.

"Hi," echoed Hikaru. He suddenly became very busy writing his essay. _As a side note, the class representative shouldn't keep so much flammable stuff in his desk. That part was not my fault. I mean, did I tell him to keep all that paper in there? Hell no! It's just plain common sense. I mean, when you have someone as hot as me in the class, it's obvious that a few things will catch fire, right?_

"What a lukewarm response," complained one of Renge's hopefuls—the girls who were trying to become as much like Renge as possible (the host club was appalled by this; one Renge was more than enough, thank you). "Where's the greeting kiss?"

"Oh…" Tamaki let out a little laugh. "Don't be silly… we already… broke up."

He was good; Kyouya had to hand it to him. Even though he was pale, he was putting up a nice front. There was no turning-into-a-vegetable, no simply running home to avoid everything.

But that only made him worry more for what would happen when they really showed what they were feeling.

"You broke up?" Haruhi asked, bewildered. Oh no. They should have warned the other host club members ahead of time. But there had been no opportunity to do so—not with him talking to Hikaru and all. "But why? Hikaru, did you dump sempai?"

"Ladies…" Kyouya began, but Hikaru glared up at him in warning. _Stay out of this, _the redhead's eyes plainly said. The Shadow King sighed. Obviously Tamaki had not enlightened Hikaru as to why they had to break up, and now it looked as though a confrontation would be inevitable.

He'd believed that Hikaru hadn't been in love with Tamaki. And at the time he had been correct. But of course, true to form, Hikaru had defied him by changing his mind. He sighed again. Now Tamaki had to tell him everything… and he had to do some serious damage control.

"Actually… it was me," Tamaki said shame-facedly.

"EHHHHHHHHHHHH?" the girls all stared. "Tamaki-kun, you have no idea what you were letting go of! Where else will you find someone willing to put up with someone as stupid as you?"

"Girls… are really very blunt, aren't they?" Kyouya muttered. "And here I thought that Haruhi was a rare breed…"

"No wonder we're all gay," Hikaru snorted.

"But why did you dump Hikaru-kun, Tamaki-kun?" asked one girl. "You said that you loved him."

"Ah… it got boring, didn't it?" Hikaru said nonchalantly, scribbling some more nonsense. _Also, the class representative had crackers in his desk. If he eats too much he'll get fat. Plus, it probably brings all sorts of nasty stuff like rats to the classroom. So really, I was doing everyone a favor by setting his desk on fire. Think of it as a little unorthodox pest control. I mean, hey, the school's always asking us to be more creative and think out of the box, right? So I did—I thought right out of the box of matches! _"We Hitachiins get tired when the game gets too easy."

"Shut up, Hikaru-kun, _you're _the one who got dumped," one customer said, rolling her eyes. Kaoru stared daggers in her direction, and Kyouya made a mental note to ban her from the club. He wondered what bloody revenge his boyfriend would wreak on the hapless big-mouth, and decided that it would probably involve scalping, by the way Kaoru was considering her auburn curls.

"So we both got sick of it. Really, he was doing me a favor by being the one to break it up. Hell, if I did it he'd probably have broken down sobbing as usual. He. Just. Got. Tired. Of. Me," Hikaru ground out the last sentence, pressing down so hard on his pen that he was tearing holes through the paper.

"Really?" the girl said.

"Well…" Tamaki rubbed his neck awkwardly. He had no better excuse to give, and he couldn't just tell them the truth. "Yeah, actually."

"See, what did I tell you? What a playboy prince, easily getting tired of someone as fabulous as me," said Hikaru. "Jeez. What an idiot."

His handwriting was becoming messier…

No… blurrier? The paper was damp…

A soft sound escaped him, making the Shadow King's head turn in his direction. Kyouya suddenly grabbed his chin and tilted it up so that he could see his face. "Hikaru?" His heart almost stopped when he saw that Hikaru's face was wet. It was like watching Kaoru cry.

The other redhead was already rushing over to his brother, panic written all over his features, but someone else beat him to his twin's side.

"What?" Tamaki darted forward, panic on his face. "Hikaru?"

"Shut up, idiot lord!" Tamaki grabbed Hikaru's wrists as the younger boy tried to wrench away from him. "Leave me alone already!"

"I'm sorry, Hikaru… I'm so sorry…"

"Tamaki, I would advise you to dodge… oh. Too late." The Shadow King winced as the host king doubled up after Hikaru had just kneed him in a particular area where the sun _definitely _didn't shine. Kaoru hurried over to his brother, murmuring soothing nonsense while stroking his brother's hair.

Mori cleared his throat. "Ladies, club activities are over."

They stared at the scene, transfixed. "But…"

Hunny smiled sweetly at them. "Sorry, but this is private time, ne?"

"The circumstances are unavoidable," Haruhi added. "We'll all make it up to you next time…" She paused. "Yes, even you, Renge. _Now_."

In moments they had successfully dispersed all the onlookers, only to stand helplessly watching when their task was over. They had never seen Hikaru cry before, barring his use of eyedrops for club stunts. It was messy… and so painful to look at.

"I'm sorry, Hikaru," Tamaki whispered, holding the redhead close to him.

"Stupid lord! Idiot milord! Who the hell cares if you dumped me?" Hikaru answered in muffled tones. "Who the hell would cry over such an airhead? I'm not crying!"

"Uh…"

"Haruhi, it's okay not to state the obvious," Kaoru said, stopping her. "Just let them talk it out."

"Then shouldn't we leave them alone?" she asked.

"Well, I would recommend that… but then Hikaru might knee him again, and then milord might not have any kids in the future."

She considered. "Well, is that such a bad thing? I mean, can you picture a lot of mini-Tamaki-sempais running around the place?"

Kaoru cringed. "Well then, Hikaru can knee him. But you guys all got to listen in on me and sempai last time, so turnabout is fair play." He couldn't help a small smile.

"I don't love you anyway," Hikaru complained, trying to shove Tamaki away and failing spectacularly. "Get off me, you pervert king!"

"But I do, Hikaru. I care for you. And I don't want to see you like this."

"How can you say such embarrassing stuff so easily? Oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to." He laughed bitterly. "Cut it out!"

"It doesn't matter. You're the only one I'd say this to."

Hikaru snorted. "Right. Me and the five billion girls you spout your lines to."

"Hikaru, look at me." Unwillingly, the freshman raised his head. "I have never spoken this way to anyone before. I've never _felt _like this before."

_Neither have I_, thought Hikaru miserably.

* * *

"I guess he was just bottling it all up," Kaoru sighed, stroking Hikaru's hair as his twin slept. He'd exhausted himself crying, so they'd put him on the couch with Tamaki's blazer over him. Tamaki had tried explaining to him, but the redhead had simply yelled at him and clapped his hands over his ears, ignoring the attempts. "He didn't cry at all last night. He just kept a poker face the whole time. I guess it was about time he released that tension."

"Who knew that Hika-chan was so brave?" Hunny said, shaking his head. "Trying to shoulder everything on his own…" Kaoru had told them everything that had happened.

"So he actually didn't have feelings for me?" Tamaki said, looking down at Hikaru.

Kyouya hit him with his notebook. "I know you're dense, Tamaki, but he just cried himself to sleep because of you. In front of an entire room filled with fangirls. And remember that Hikaru likes to put up a strong façade. He's not the type to show his tears so easily." He sighed. "Perhaps he wasn't serious about you at first, just as I'd suspected, but he is now, Tamaki."

"And just like Hikaru, his timing's really bad," Haruhi sighed.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Hikaru mumbled. He opened his eyes.

"You're awake?" Haruhi asked.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. On the rare occasions that he did cry, it always made him a little crabby. "No, Haruhi, I'm still asleep. I _was _having a nice nap until you guys all started talking too loud." He didn't push off Tamaki's jacket though. It smelled just like the host king: of roses and sunlight and strawberry soap. "I can't believe this. I was so uncool back there."

"But you were really cute," Hunny put in comfortingly. "Just like a girl in a romance movie."

His glare could have burned through steel. "…now why does that _not _make me feel better?"

Kyouya sighed. "Tamaki, I know that I told you that it was better sometimes not to let your partner worry and keep your reasons to yourself, but… well, that backfired splendidly on me. It would be better if you explained the situation to Hikaru."

"You two underestimate us," Kaoru snorted. "You think that if you try to keep us in the dark we won't worry? It's even worse when you don't know why things are happening, and we're not so dense that we don't realize that something's going on."

The Shadow King looked away. "Well, that, and I believed that Hikaru would have been relieved at the split. I was basing my conclusion on prior evidence… and it appears that circumstances have changed."

"That's the nearest I'm ever going to get to hearing you admit you were wrong, isn't it?" Hikaru said flatly.

"True," Kaoru agreed before Kyouya could reply. Ignoring the poke in the ribs he got for his impudence, he snuggled closer to Kyouya as Tamaki slowly filled them in on what was going on.

"Wow, Tama-chan. Your grandma's like a wicked witch from a fairytale," Hunny piped up.

Haruhi flinched. "Uh… Hunny-sempai, that's his grandmother you're talking about…"

"Haru-chan, you're scolding me for being blunt?" Hunny asked, sounding amazed. "I'm just surprised that you weren't the one to say it first."

She blushed. "Well, okay, she does sound evil… but she's still his grandmother."

"Suoh Shizue-san _is _quite a cold figure," Kyouya allowed. "But I… understand her."

The rest looked at him as though he were crazy. "I'm not surprised," Hikaru snorted. "Birds of a feather… are apparently bats out of hell together."

The Shadow King scowled. "She's old, Hikaru. She adheres to a very strict moral code. She's had to handle the company all by herself following the death of her husband… that forced her to become harsh. It's not an easy world for someone to handle, and she had to become tough if she wanted to survive. She also had to raise her son, Suoh Yuzuru-san… and he disappointed her by taking a mistress, which was against her ethics. That only made her colder than ever. Perhaps underneath it all she's not a bad person, but she's sacrificed everything for the Suoh empire, and she expects Tamaki to do the same."

"I can't go against her," Tamaki said, shame-faced. "I'm so sorry, Hikaru. If it were just me, I wouldn't really care. I would throw it all away in an instant. But it's you, and Kaoru, your family… and my mother. I can't risk all that."

"Christ. Did you have to tell me _now, _when I actually started to…" Hikaru faltered. He couldn't say the words. "…think of you without feeling the urge to rip your head off? Ugh. I'm really not good at this expressing emotions thing."

That was probably the closest thing to a confession Tamaki would ever get from him. But now that he'd come to somewhat understand Hikaru, he knew what he was really saying, couched in the insults and hesitation.

_I love you._

Hikaru buried his face in his hands. "So. Okay. We'll deal with it. You stay away from me, and I'll stay away from you. Now that I know… it's okay. It's not like I don't get why you're doing it. And you're right. You can't just… throw everything away for, you know." _Us._

"Can't we somehow intervene?" asked Haruhi.

Mori looked at Kyouya. "I… can only do what's within my powers, sempai," the Shadow King said, closing his notebook. "However…"

The redhead let out a little hiss. He knew that if he allowed Kyouya to continue with whatever he was going to say, he would just get raised hopes… and they would only be betrayed. Again. His mom had been wrong. Being fine versus being happy… being fine had been enough. At least there was nothing to lose.

"Hikaru," Kyouya tried.

"Tell me now, are you one hundred percent sure you can fix this?" the older Hitachiin demanded.

Kyouya's lips pursed. "You are putting up unrealistic expectations."

"No, _you're _the one who'll make me expect something unrealistic, so shut up. Don't play around with your pretty words, and just tell me plainly that you can't." He swallowed hard. Despite his words, he had really, really wished that maybe the Shadow King could have done something… but no. "If even the lord of hell can't do anything, what kind of demon is your old lady, milord?" said Hikaru with a brittle laugh. "Come on, guys. I was raised in our world, so I know what the rules are. The Suohs are on top of the food chain. So… I'm just going to back off."

"I want you so much, Hikaru," Tamaki said softly.

Hunny hit him on the head. "Saying stuff like that makes it harder for Hika-chan, Tama-chan," he scolded.

"Yeah," Hikaru said, closing his eyes. He was just so, so tired."As though it weren't hard enough already."

* * *

Kyouya watched as the last of them left. Hunny and Mori were accompanying Tamaki; meanwhile, Haruhi was standing by Hikaru's side. He held his breath for a moment, wondering whether Kaoru was planning to stay and wait for him as they usually did—it was now part of their routine—but the freshman merely shot him an apologetic look before tilting his head towards his brother. He nodded, getting the message loud and clear.

_He needs me._

And he wouldn't have begrudged Hikaru Kaoru's company, not when he was going through something as awful as this. But he had to admit that Kaoru leaving tied in nicely to his plans. Not that he strictly needed solitude for this, but he would operate better without any distractions.

And Hikaru was right. He didn't want to raise any hopes. He could hear the desperation couched in the younger boy's anger and surrender earlier. Better that he work on it, and hope that he succeeded… but he would not subject Hikaru to another situation where what he wanted would be yanked right out of his hands.

He dialed quickly, waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. "Moshimoshi. Good afternoon, this is Ootori Kyouya. Yes, I am quite well, thank you. And how are you?" He paused, his face darkening. "Yes, that's precisely what I wished to discuss." His frown deepened. "I suppose that is one way of looking at it, but my opinion on that differs somewhat…"

He listened for a moment. "I see. That _is _quite an obstacle…hmm. No. Certainly not. I find that sort of open aggression distasteful." He laughed at something the other person said. "_Covert_ aggression? I said no such thing. You are far too quick to believe I have something drastic planned."

He couldn't help smirking in spite of the situation. "Well, I cannot deny that I _might _resort to other tactics if pushed…" He paused. "Well, yes, I do consider this a push, but I would like to attempt another method." He paused. "You underestimate him," he said softly. "You take this much too lightly, if you don't mind me saying so."

After a moment he breathed slowly, feeling a rush of adrenaline. He hadn't gotten as far as he had without taking a few risks, never mind how calculated they were. This was one of the most difficult stunts he had ever pulled to date… and it remained to be seen whether he succeeded or not. "I see," he purred into the phone. "You are so sure of yourself? Well then… why don't we play a little game?"

* * *

A/N: There we go. Whee. This fic is now officially longer than OTNK not just by word count but also by the number of chapters, although at the moment NaF is nowhere near as popular as OTNK is. How about giving some reviews and changing that little fact? Haha. Cheer me up and hit that review button... :)

Will be busy for a while so I'm not sure when I'll update this or post a new oneshot, but as always: more reviews = faster updates. Cheers, all.


	8. Wreckage

A/N: I just had my first day back at school and it's already a huge nightmare of work. There are no words for how insane it is. Class, class, meetings, class, meetings, meetings, trying not to kill each other, meetings, sleep. And thankfully, brownies. And hot cocoa with marshmallows in it.

I've got so many plans for fics that come after NaF, I just don't know what to do. Still, I'll get this out of the way first. And may I say that I hesitated to post this, if only because the word count before this chapter was posted was so lovely: 57,575 words. I'm a sucker for symmetry, sometimes (and alliteration, apparently).

Huge, huge thanks to the reviewers from the previous chapter: Somerdaye, animeallthewayhurray, chobncheese, .NOT., xRosePetalx, Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, iPercy, Full-Empty-Spirit, FifteenthVector, pi-or-pie, Rouge, Nikita-chan6, Jillkun-ness, Always A Bookworm, porcelainanimals, Flacks, ShironoOkami, Burrs, Angel015, kori-no-hime, Skylark555, Reviewer, Kuroneko000, bsc9999, biushi, and Stupid Cow. You are all absolutely wonderful.

Warning: Tons of angst. Also: Aisu Dragoness wanted to know how Kyouya would ever react if Kaoru's wellbeing was threatened in some way. Well, you will soon know.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Wreckage

And the days passed by, just like that. The two blatantly avoided each other. The fangirls first had a field day ("Oh my gosh, uke Hikaru-kun! He was even crying over Tamaki-sama! So adorable!") but then they quieted down as they saw that the two kept moving away from each other. They kept waiting for an explosive confrontation scene that would, they said, lead eventually to Hikaru sobbing in Tamaki's arms as they reconciled amidst a lot of kissing and fireworks.

But nothing happened. At first they laughed it off and said 'give it time' but time just widened the gap between the two. Then the laughter stopped, and everyone was silent, waiting and watching.

It was clear that they were both in pain, but neither of them even attempted to approach the other.

And the ways that they coped with the situation were different. Tamaki became listless, ala Kyouya or Kaoru. It was a throwback to the days when the Manipulative Pair were fighting, right before they'd gotten together. The angry eyes and quiet, contained frustration were a familiar enough sight, but that didn't mean it was any less painful to look at. Plus, he had to deal with a lot of whispers about how fickle he was, for throwing over Hikaru when he'd pursued the other boy so relentlessly. He soon found that anything he said was turned against him… so he resorted to saying nothing at all.

While normally Kyouya would have scolded him for being so useless during club activities, this time he held his tongue. He knew well enough what it felt like and that it would be futile to attempt to wake Tamaki up from his stupor. So Tamaki continued to just sit around doing nothing.

Also, the girls liked to take pictures of the 'brooding prince'. Kyouya to exercise his self-control to the fullest to prevent himself from ripping those stupid cameras out of their hands.

What he was more worried about was that it wasn't simply confined to club. Tamaki was starting to live his life mechanically, going through the motions and only doing what was absolutely necessary. And he didn't talk at all anymore. When the teachers called on him in class, he wouldn't be paying attention—eventually they gave up trying. When Kyouya attempted to speak to him, he would only shake his head, showing that he wasn't ready to converse.

On one particularly bad day, though, when they were strolling through a park (well, Kyouya had been strolling; Tamaki's usual graceful steps looked more like an awkward limp) and he had seen those purple-blue eyes first flicker to and then fixate on a pack of cigarettes someone had left on one of the benches, his throat had constricted and he'd spoken out.

"I'm trying to fix it, Tamaki," he said softly.

His best friend looked at him. "Can you?" he said, his voice slightly raspy from disuse. He had been silent for so long that it probably hurt to talk, and not just mentally.

He weighed his options. If he told Tamaki, and it failed, the blonde would likely pull something foolish. Whereas if he didn't tell Tamaki and he allowed him to go on hopelessly, he was likely to pull something foolish anyway.

Instead, he laid a hand on the half-French boy's shoulder and breathed out a sigh.

Hikaru, on the other hand, became even louder, bordering almost on manic. He had to deal with the rumors just as much as Tamaki, and he couldn't decide which he hated more: the ones who looked at him with pitying, condescending expressions, or the ones who rejoiced that two of the hottest guys in school were unattached again. He hated listening to the talk—so he tried to drown it out Hitachiin-style.

Everything seemed to explode outwards with the redhead. The whole school was thrown into chaos by the ever-escalating level of his pranks, which varied from the standard (snake in the girl's locker room) to the incredibly elaborate (letting loose a box of white mice and a dozen elephants with pots and pans tied to their tails on school grounds). He would stay up until all hours of the night playing computer games (though he hadn't touched the controllers that he and Tamaki used to play on), or even worse: he'd taken to running off into town to hit the bar scene on most nights.

It wasn't as though they hadn't tried to stop him. Kaoru tried to talk him out of a lot of his pranks, but Hikaru would just listen silently to his warnings and then go do what he wanted anyway. One night Kaoru had come down for a glass of ginger ale during one of his late-night design sessions, and he saw Hikaru come in through the front door with a bloodied shirt front.

"What the fuck have you been doing?" the younger twin gasped. He didn't normally swear—the potty mouth reputation they had was largely Hikaru's fault—but he couldn't help it. His eyes traced the already-forming bruises on his brother's jaw.

"You're up late," Hikaru had observed with a shrug.

"Wait here," he snapped, running off for their first aid kit. To his relief, when he returned Hikaru was lounging on the couch, looking for all the world as though nothing was wrong. Kaoru's stomach turned as he brought out the disinfectant and started cleaning some of the wounds, wincing at the hiss of pain that whistled through Hikaru's teeth.

"Hikaru, what happened?" he whispered, carefully wrapping a bandage around his brother's knuckles. His twin had beautiful, sensitive hands, with only the barest hints of calluses from playing the guitar or designing.

His twin smiled. "I fell."

His eyes narrowed. It was an idiotic excuse, and both of them knew it. Hikaru wasn't even going to bother coming up with a decent lie, not when they were both perfectly aware that Kaoru wouldn't buy it.

"Fell," Kaoru repeated in disbelief.

"If you're so sure of that I'm lying, why bother asking me?" Hikaru snorted.

"Hikaru," he said, a little more sharply than he had intended. He saw the other Hitachiin's eyes darken, and Hikaru stood up to go to his room. "No, wait, I'm sorry. Let me at least finish bandaging those."

"It doesn't help," Hikaru replied shortly, walking away.

Kaoru sat there for a long time, staring down at the bandages in his hands. "I know."

Haruhi tried to invite him over to her house a lot to stop him from going out at night, but he would brush her off with a grin that never reached his eyes and say, "Sorry I have to refuse my favorite toy, but I've got places to be and a town to paint red."

When she'd tried to press the issue, he'd simply laughed, leaned in close and said, "You want it that bad, Haruhi?"

Everyone froze in place as Haruhi goggled up at him. _Oh no he hadn't._

Mori had stepped over, taken Haruhi by the hand, and led her away. His expression at the time—for anyone who had been lucky (unlucky?) enough to see it—became the stuff of legend.

"Jesus. He's lucky Mori-sempai's so understanding," Kaoru said, shaking his head off.

"Yeah," Hunny said. "Anyone else, or Hika-chan in any other situation, and Takashi would have _understandingly_ ripped his arms off."

Their eyes ticked almost automatically over to Tamaki, who was sitting nearby. The blonde's eyes seemed to flash at their words, and Kaoru held his breath… but then the host king simply slumped again, staring out the window.

Eventually they gave up trying to hold Hikaru back, because whenever they tried to restrain him he would only do something even worse than he'd originally planned. Like the time Kaoru tried to prevent him from doodling something rude on the teacher's desk, only for a fifty-foot tall caricature of that teacher to appear on the school walls.

And the wilder Hikaru got, the more silent Tamaki became; the quieter Tamaki was, the further Hikaru pushed himself to extremes.

* * *

The Hitachiin matriarch (who was a bit undecided on how to feel at being called matriarch; on the one hand, it sounded powerful, but on the other hand, she was adamant on the fact that she was way too young to be called one) looked at her older son with a mixture of exasperation, affection and worry as he sat on the other side of her designing desk. It was a familiar enough scene: a prank would go too far, and she would end up having to lecture them in the atelier. Previous incidents, however, had had Hikaru with eyes sparkling from the leftover adrenaline from the prank, or properly repentant (which was much rarer than the former). Usually she had to face two redheads instead of one, as Hikaru and Kaoru dragged each other into trouble more times than she could count.

Today, though, Hikaru was staring at her with a blank, sullen expression plastered all over his face, and Kaoru was sitting at his work desk near hers, trying to look as though he wasn't anxiously listening in on their conversation.

"Hikaru," she began.

'Mom," he mimicked. He didn't even flinch at her don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-release-your-pictures-in-diapers glare of doom. "So what did they call about? The fire in the chemistry lab? The piranhas in the swimming pool? The teacher who woke up and thought that he'd slept with a student?"

It took all of her willpower not to let her lips twitch. "I believe that Minami-sensei has been given a leave of absence and sent to counseling," she said. "And to answer your question, all of the above along with all the other stunts you've pulled this week."

He rolled his eyes. "They're overreacting. They act like no one ever tried to renovate the cafeteria into a strip club before."

"And succeeded," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know how you managed to slip past the security and have everything fixed up overnight—strippers included?"

He smirked, but there was no amusement in it. "At least it gave people something to talk about the next morning." _Other than my break-up with milord._

"Hikaru, darling…" She knew what it was, of course. Kyouya had immediately informed her about what had happened. And it didn't take a genius to notice Hikaru's sudden three-sixty in mood coincided with the conspicuous absence of the formerly clingy blonde.

"It's not like this is new or anything," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Or what, are they trying to expel me now?"

She sighed. Of course they wouldn't. His academic record prior to the recent incidents was outstanding, and his stellar bloodlines and their donations counted for far too much. Besides, she was sure that Tamaki would do something drastic to his father if they attempted to kick her son out. "No," she said simply. "I brought you here because you haven't designed in a while. I was wondering if your skills had gotten rusty."

His face screwed up into a frown. "I'm not—"

"In the mood?" she asked. "Hmm. I could accept that… if you agree not to leave the house late or pull any pranks for the next six months."

He glared at her, grabbing a pen, colored pencils and paper and stomping away. For a while the air was filled with nothing but the sound of their pens and pencils scratching as all three Hitachiins got to work. Kaoru waited fifteen minutes before he quietly spoke, his voice lowered so that Hikaru wouldn't be able to hear them.

"Trying to make him pour his frustrations out?" he murmured as he pinned a swatch of wisteria-colored silk onto his paper. He deftly took his pencil and shaded the same hue onto his design. "I'm not sure that's going to work, mom. This is a little too big for that."

She sighed. "I know, dear. I just wanted to get a little information on what he's thinking at the moment."

"Of course," Kaoru said with a wry little smile. Kyouya had unwittingly done it with him before. "Designs reflect your inner state of mind. Or so you claim… though recently I've started to put a little more stock into your theory."

"We Hitachiins tend to be very emotional," she said with a shrug as she bent over the samples from one of their suppliers. "He can't even _sit _there without me seeing what he's feeling. I'm sure his work will show me even more."

"Speaking of sitting there… mom, he's gone."

Her head snapped up. True enough, there were two instead of three redheads present in the atelier. Kaoru watched with a rueful little smile on his face as she let out a string of creative curses. Wow. Traveling all over the world really made you fluent in different languages… and swearing.

She breathed out, reminding herself that it would do no good to chase after her eldest son with a ruler (now we know which side of the family Kaoru got _that _particular impulse from). Instead, she stood up and made her way to a small stack of hastily-made designs on Hikaru's table. Kaoru sidled up beside her as she studied them.

"It's different from his usual style," Kaoru noted. "It looks… like what I was trying to do a few weeks ago."

She quirked an eyebrow up at him. "You were having issues with Kyouya-kun, weren't you?"

He blushed. "Kind of." The fluid strokes were more elegant and feminine than Hikaru's usual brash designs. He frowned as he leafed through the pile. Asymmetrical hems. A single long, flowing sleeve on a tube dress. Draped fabrics that slipped artfully off a single shoulder. "Wait…"

"Ah. You saw the unifying factor?"

"Imbalance," he murmured. "There's always something missing. There's no symmetry. Something is… lost." He looked up at her. "Mom…"

She nodded. "I'll clean up for you both. You go chase after Hikaru." He nodded and took off immediately, and she sighed as she traced the lines of a purple-blue evening gown the exact color of Tamaki's eyes.

* * *

Kyouya rubbed his temples. Hikaru was skipping club activities, off doing only heaven knew what. Haruhi reported that he had last seen the Hitachiin running around with a chainsaw in hand, and not even she had the nerve to go find out what he was up to when he was wielding something like _that._ Kaoru had offered to go try locate him, but Kyouya told him that he would be no good to Hikaru if he allowed his older brother to accidentally behead him (and if the Shadow King had looked flat-out panicked about his boyfriend's safety when Kaoru had volunteered, no one commented).

Tamaki was in the infirmary, asleep. He looked so tired that their last-period teacher had insisted that he go, and he hadn't come back since. Not that it mattered much that the two were missing. The few customers that had stopped by had decided to leave early—the black atmosphere that hung over the club was enough to keep most of them away.

"You'll never guess what Hikaru did in English class today," Haruhi murmured in exhaustion, dropping her head onto the table in front of her. Kaoru choked back a half-laugh half-sob at her words, and the others all raised their eyebrows at her expectantly.

She sighed as she went on. "We're taking up The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. When the teacher called on him to ask for a synopsis of the story, he said, 'they all offed themselves because they couldn't get laid'."

They stared at her in disbelief, but a faint nod from Kaoru confirmed her story. "He's been failing all our recent exams too. I _know _he knows all the answers, but he acts like it's completely beneath him."

Kyouya frowned. "The teachers consulted with me about Tamaki as well. His grades are dropping. But they don't dare confront Tamaki himself. He's been turning in blank test papers. So Hikaru has been doing the same?"

"Far from it," Kaoru said. "He's been writing naughty limericks about our teachers on the questionnaires and handing those in." He looked up at his boyfriend in askance. "So the situation hasn't changed on the milord front, then?"

"Unfortunately not." Everyone seemed to be reporting to _him _about his best friend's situation, plying him with their requests and demanding answers about the situation. His temples throbbed again, but they had run out of aspirin in their little mini-infirmary. He wished that he had thought to restock, but tending to his best friend had distracted him. "Aside from the terrible state of his academics, his house's staff has contacted me as well. They're quite concerned about his recent behavior. Apparently he barely eats anything they serve him, and spends a lot of time locked up in his room. They're afraid that he'll do something to hurt himself."

"It won't get to that point," Hunny reassured him. Despite his childish tones, his eyes were ancient with sadness and wisdom. "You're going to worry yourself sick, Kyou-chan. You need to breathe and calm down."

Kyouya nodded slowly. "I know, sempai. I am simply… displeased by the notion of that possibility." His glance sidled over to his boyfriend. "And speaking of needing to stop fretting so much…"

Kaoru leaned against him, his lips turned down in a frown. His eyes were ringed by dark circles, and Kyouya had muttered something about 'teaching Hikaru some sense so that Kaoru could get a proper night's sleep'. But in truth, not even the Shadow King had intervened with his insistence on staying up waiting for Hikaru to come home. The Hitachiins' famous brotherly love was not something to be interfered with.

"I don't mean that you ought to stop troubling yourself about Hikaru—and I doubt that would even be possible—but you won't be any good helping him if you don't rest a little," Kyouya murmured, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together.

He sighed. "I know, but Hikaru came back last night smelling like… I'm worried, sempai."

"I have some of my guards watching your brother, so don't fret," Kyouya assured him. "He indulged in alcohol, yes, but not so much that he would have become intoxicated. And if he had, they would have protected him."

Still, his brow furrowed. There was only so much that he could do for Hikaru without directly meddling. If he _did _directly meddle, Hikaru would resent it and only do something to try to escape their watch. And bodyguards or not, if Hikaru chose to do something truly stupid, even Kyouya wouldn't be able to stop him.

And from what he could see, they were getting closer and closer to that point.

"And the bruises?" Kaoru asked.

Kyouya winced. "He's been picking fights." He saw from the defeated look on Kaoru's face that the younger boy had been expecting as much. "And the guards can't intervene because—"

"I know," Kaoru assured him. "Hikaru would go crazy if he found out that we even have guards hanging around him. I'd feel a lot better knowing they were there if something _did _go terribly wrong. Right now it's all split lips and bruised knuckles… we used to get worse than that from roughhousing when we were kids. We're pretty good at fighting, so I know Hikaru can handle himself."

His tone made it plain that he wasn't sure of that at all. Hikaru could pack a punch, yes, but he was easily distracted. Plus, if there were multiple attackers, it was too much to expect that he could deal with them all single-handedly. He would have preferred to be watching his twin's back in a fight, but one glance from Kyouya that clearly read 'I know what you're thinking' squelched that thought. "But if it were more than that…"

"I've given the security express orders to intervene if someone pulls a weapon or any other circumstances where things look dangerous for Hikaru," Kyouya said. "So don't go rushing into anything that could get you hurt, all right?"

"Thank you," Kaoru sighed. "Mom and dad tell me that it's just a phase, and they keep reminding me that I went through some pretty rough patches myself. But I can't help worrying."

"They're only saying it to reassure you," Kyouya told him. "Hitachiin-sama has already contacted me, asking me to keep tabs on the situation. I keep her updated, of course…" Kaoru squeezed his hand. He knew that it was an awful lot of pressure on Kyouya—everyone was expecting him to come up with some miraculous strategy to save the day. They all seemed to take the Shadow King's genius for granted. And sometimes he had to admit that he did too.

"There has to be something more that we can do," Haruhi said, her face tight with worry. Sure, both Hikaru and Tamaki annoyed her all the time, but she suffered them the way that people bore with… well, family. She considered them to be something like pesky little brothers. She sighed. "They drive me crazy when they're together, but… it's like they were meant to be or something."

Hunny nodded. "It's rare for Tama-chan to drop his shields around anyone other than Kyou-chan. Hika-chan was the first, I think."

The Shadow King frowned at him. "True," he agreed. He supposed that it was to be expected that Hunny recognize Tamaki's coping mechanisms, when it was fairly similar to what the senior himself did. He noticed Haruhi's questioning look and explained. "You said that Tamaki drives you crazy… most likely because of his childishness, correct?" She nodded. "It's my belief that Tamaki simply grew up that way. His mother was very sick, after all. He spent his childhood cloistered with her, trying various methods to make her and the people around her laugh in spite of her illness and their financial problems. And the easiest way to do that…"

"Was to act like the little kid that he was," Haruhi finished, comprehension dawning in her eyes. It really did explain a lot. "And his dad complex?"

"He grew up without a significant paternal influence. He's trying to make up for it." Kyouya shrugged. "It's a very delicate balance. He needs someone who won't encourage his coping mechanism. But more importantly, Tamaki needs someone who will need him." That was why, in the end, he'd realized that his own initial bid for Tamaki's affections had come to nothing. Not that he was complaining. Now he had everything he wanted in Kaoru.

"That's why he's so perfect for Hikaru," the redhead murmured. "Hikaru's still really immature. He wants someone who'll be nuts over him. But it can't be someone who'll depend on him either… he had enough of that from me." He winced. "I shouldn't have encouraged him to take on the stronger brother role. It really took its toll on his personality."

"That was hardly your fault," Kyouya disagreed. "And you do take care of Hikaru. He just doesn't realize it. Your brotherly bond is something that you two… well, I wouldn't say you take it for granted, but it's as natural as breathing."

"True," Kaoru allowed. "Besides, Hikaru's partner had to be someone who wasn't afraid of being over-the-top mushy. Considering Hikaru's so squeamish about being romantic, a relationship with anyone else would probably have been difficult." He sighed. "Not that this isn't difficult. Things are never simple in a Host Club romance, are they? Oh no, wait, Haruhi and Mori-sempai seem to have escaped relatively unscathed."

Mori permitted himself a small smile. "Mostly," he said, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend.

"Someday we'll make you guys spill the story on how you hooked up," Kaoru warned them. Then he shook his head, leaning back against Kyouya. "I just wish that everything was okay again."

At the words 'I wish' all eyes ticked over to the Shadow King. Whenever Kaoru uttered those magic words, Kyouya always moved heaven and earth to make sure that whatever it was that Kaoru had wished for would come true.

Kyouya was writing in his notebook, ignoring the gazes boring into him. "I have… put certain plans in motion… but the timing for its execution must be gotten just right." He looked frustrated. "Hikaru was mistaken when he said that I could do nothing. But there certainly isn't a lot that I can. The problem with what I'm attempting to do is that I fear that they might do irreparable damage to themselves before I can succeed."

Mori nodded. "The problem is that your plan won't work unless they do something… but if they do there's a lot of risk."

"It's just like you to know what I was doing, Mori-sempai," the Shadow King acknowledged with a nod. If ever the tall senior decided to get serious, he would be a formidable foe. Kyouya was both disappointed and relieved that Mori confined his interests to only those closest to him.

"What did you put on the line for this one, Kyou-chan?" Hunny asked him quietly.

Make that _two _possible formidable foes. Not that either of them would ever have that sort of interest, but still. It was good to keep tabs. "Nothing that I would refuse to pay up if I fail," the Shadow King murmured.

Kaoru looked at him. "You're doing something reckless again, aren't you?" Kyouya gave him an affronted frown, but the golden-eyed boy shook his head. "No, don't even bother denying that. Of course you are." People often looked at Kyouya, all slicked-back lines and discipline, and thought that he was _careful._ He wasn't. He simply wasn't stupid—and there lay the distinction most people failed to make.

Haruhi pursed her lips. "How long do you think it'll take?"

He laughed hollowly. "How long? I'll be lucky if it even works at all. Do you recall how I said previously, 'I don't gamble, I only deal with certainties'? It seems that where those two are concerned, I have to accept that there are no certainties."

* * *

Hikaru stalked into the school infirmary, swearing as he went in. His English teacher—_ugly cow_—had caught him with the chainsaw and, in the face of the roaring weapon, had simply confiscated it (he still hadn't quite managed to figure out just how she'd done it, even though he'd been right there when she had), hauled him into the staff room for a lecture, and promptly whacked him on the head with a ruler.

"Menopausal old can't-get-laid witch," he snarled as he rummaged through the drawers for some aspirin. No wonder Kaoru loved English so much. He and the teachers were both sadists and had similar interests, if their use of a ruler was any indication.

He wished he could just pop into the host club medical room for some aspirin—most of them could find it blind-folded, now, considering how often they needed some after one of Tamaki's antics. _Tamaki._ He winced at the thought of the blonde, for a moment looking heartbreakingly vulnerable. After just an instant, though, his expression snapped back into a mask of cold fury.

Finally he located the brown bottle. Stupid infirmary staff. Why weren't they ever around anyway? He was sure that it was all a conspiracy. And of course their difficult-to-locate placement of important medicine was obviously part of it. He shook out a couple of the pills and swallowed them dry before his eyes turned longingly towards the bed. The hangings were drawn and a pair of leather shoes was parked beside them.

_Of course_, he thought sourly. The day just couldn't get any better. He strode forward and yanked open the curtains, fully prepared to tell whoever was snoring in there to shove off and give the Hitachiin his space, when his snarl died on his lips.

_Milord…_

It was the closest he had gotten to his boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, he reminded himself—since they'd broken up. He looked absolutely horrible; there were bags under his eyes, his skin was almost waxy in its paleness, and his uniform hung loosely off his frame. _He lost weight,_ he realized with a frown. And yet, for all that, he still managed to be the most gorgeous being Hikaru had ever had the privilege of laying his eyes on. Against his will, he found himself padding over to the bed and perching himself on the edge of it.

He cringed and turned to bolt when Tamaki stirred slightly, but then the blonde settled down again. He bit his lip. "If you're only pretending to sleep, I'm going to shave your head," he threatened the unconscious figure.

His warning was answered with deep, steady breathing, but then again, if he were Tamaki, he wouldn't have responded either. He leaned in and murmured one word in the sophomore's ear.

"_Rene_…"

His pulse beat furiously in his ears as he waited a heartbeat, then two. Tamaki didn't so much as bat an eyelash. He leaned back, looking down at the older boy with a sigh. "Well, I don't suppose you could have faked all that snoring anyway," he muttered, though Tamaki most decidedly did not snore.

He swallowed hard. _It's too much,_ he thought to himself, before he opened his mouth and started talking.

Softly he spoke about how it hurt like hell and he wasn't even sure why. That he was so furious with the world that he had to fall in love with Tamaki after the wheels had already been set in motion to tear them apart; how much he hated Tamaki for not telling him right away about his grandmother's stupid scheme, before that wonderful night when he'd realized his feelings. How sick he was of the way everyone looked at him as though he was either going to explode in fury… or tears. That sometimes he just couldn't stand it and went out to burn off some energy, try to forget everything in a couple of drinks, a little dancing, starting a fight or two… and that 'sometimes' had rapidly become 'every night', and that he felt like he was falling and no one could save him.

"And it's all your fault, you stupid-assed fake king," he muttered angrily, still careful to keep the decibel level at a minimum despite the tension making him want to shout and throw things. "You're an idiot. You could have prevented all this nonsense by not spouting all that crap about how kisses are meant to make us fall in love and have big, fancy white weddings in the first place. Where the hell were you when they were handing out brains?"

He sighed. "Somewhere with me, apparently, because I'm just as stupid for falling for a moron like you. Why did I ever have to…" He trailed off, looking away. "People always said I would break your heart. Guess they didn't realize I had one to break too." He stood up and drew the curtains shut again, before he turned on his heel and left.

* * *

"Are you going out again?" Kaoru asked. He, Haruhi, Mori and Hunny were all at the Hitachiin estate, sitting in the living room with cups of tea spread out in front of them.

"Kaoru, do you have eyes?"

The redhead scowled. "Yes."

"Then use them," his twin said, predictably enough.

"Smart-ass."

"Well, wasn't it obvious?" Hikaru said, throwing on his jacket. He was dressed the way he usually did these days: he looked _dangerous_, in his leather jacket and black pants, hair slightly slicked back, beautiful as a knife. "Don't wait up for me, okay?"

They had been trying to convince Hikaru since much, much earlier that he ought to sit down with them and maybe play video games, or try some of Haruhi's special pasta recipe, and in their desperation they had even resorted to, "Doesn't Haruhi look gorgeous in this dress, Hikaru?" despite the little frown that that tactic had put on Mori's face.

Unfortunately, Hikaru simply replied that he didn't want to play, he wasn't hungry, and that yellow didn't suit Haruhi at all.

Kaoru had been relieved that Mori hadn't decked him for that comment, although he was pretty sure that Hunny's restraining hand had had something to do with it. Of course Hikaru was trying to push them. The second one of them gave in and punched him for all the stupid things he was saying, they would alienate themselves from him and lose whatever last bit of restraint they could put on him. Besides, he was Hikaru's twin. He could read between the lines and know what Hikaru really meant behind all the snarky remarks.

I'm not hungry (I feel sick whenever I try to even _think _about eating).

I don't want to play video games (When we broke up we were playing video games).

Yellow is _really _not your color, Haruhi (His hair is yellow… just leave me alone and stop reminding me of everything about him, because I can't stand this anymore!).

He swallowed the lump that seemed to have formed in his throat. "Look, I'm all for having fun once in a while, but aren't you overdoing it?" he asked, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "You've become so boring ever since you started up with that four-eyed rattlesnake," he snorted. "Look, Kaoru, we've already got a mom—two if you take that stupid host club family thing seriously." He ignored the reproachful looks the rest of the present members shot in his direction for belittling their close friendships. "I don't need another, and you've gone _way _into mother hen territory."

"You could stay here, and we could do something."

"Sorry, but my idea of enjoying myself isn't sitting around drinking tea," Hikaru said. "You know my motto: Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse."

Kaoru froze at the mention of death. "Well, that's a new one," he said, pretending to have overlooked it. "I thought your mottos were 'Hitachiins look great in everything, even paisley, but no Hitachiin should wear paisley because it looks like little sperm designs' and 'You can only trust a Hitachiin on any day that doesn't end with a –y' and of course, 'I will kill that bloodthirsty, cradle-robbing demon king if it's the last thing I do'."

"True on the last one," Hikaru allowed. "But regardless of your pretty little speeches, I'm heading out. Later, little brother."

"Hikaru… wait up, I'm coming with you."

The older redhead shot him an exasperated look. "Uh, no you aren't."

"Yes I am." Kaoru was already sliding his phone into his pants pocket. He hadn't tried this stunt yet, mostly because he was afraid of finding out just how bad whatever it was Hikaru was getting into was. But after the conversation after club today, he agreed with Haruhi: there _was _something more that they could do. There had to be. Kyouya had already gotten Tamaki to agree to sleep over at his house, so that was one of them settled. It was his responsibility to watch over Hikaru, then.

He suppressed the thought of his boyfriend's face when he found out what he had done. Kyouya had told him not to go haring off into something reckless… but from the sound of their earlier conversation, the Shadow King was risking something himself. Hikaru was his brother; and Tamaki was their beloved milord. He figured that Kyouya wouldn't be _too _upset.

Hopefully.

"You are _not _coming with me," Hikaru said, his tones heavy with exasperation.

"And I just told you that I am," Kaoru replied, a steely, stubborn glint in his eye.

"I'm coming too," Haruhi spoke up.

Mori looked at her in alarm before he closed his hand over hers. "Me too," he said. Kaoru had expected as much, once Haruhi had volunteered herself on this little mission. No way would Mori let his girlfriend wander out in some bar without someone around to make sure she was safe.

"Yay, a party," Hunny burbled. His eyes were anxious despite his light-hearted tones.

Hikaru scowled. "I said no! And no offense, but you guys probably wouldn't even be let in anyway. You're underage!"

"You're younger than me, Hika-chan," Hunny pointed out.

The redhead rolled his eyes and flashed him a patronizing smile. "I _know _that, Hunny-sempai, but the people running the bar don't and I'm not the one carrying a stuffed bunny. They'd probably take one look at you and tell you to hop right back into your playpen."

Kaoru winced. "I'm sorry, was I this obnoxious when Kyouya-sempai and I were fighting?" he whispered to Haruhi.

"No, but this is Hikaru, remember? We always did say that he was the meaner one." She patted his arm. "We all know he's just running his mouth off right now. Hunny-sempai understands that."

True to her word, Hunny just smiled back at him. "We'll see," he said lightly.

"_God_." Hikaru ground out. "No way! You guys look like you've all just come from… the library or something."

Haruhi opened her mouth—probably something to defend the sanctity of the library, that precious haven where she worshipped books—but Kaoru just raised an eyebrow and spoke before she could launch into a righteous tirade. "Deal with it or stay here."

Hikaru's eyes narrowed, but then his lips curled up into a smile—and it was a smile that Kaoru didn't like. "Your funeral," he said with a shrug.

* * *

And that was how Kaoru found himself sitting at a bar next to his twin, who was knocking back small shot glasses of something which, when he tried it, made his eyes and throat burn. "Uhhh…" Kaoru shook his head to clear it. The music was so loud, he could feel the bass line pounding in his temples. It wasn't like one of the tasteful clubs that they occasionally went to. Mori kept a protective hand wrapped around Haruhi's waist, while Hunny sat on one of the bar stools swinging his legs.

Contrary to what Hikaru had said, they were let in without much of a hitch. Well, a few thousand yen dropped discreetly here and there helped, of course.

"Told you it was your funeral," Hikaru said, rolling his eyes. Kaoru hated the fact that he looked used to it; and hated it even more when someone sidled up to Hikaru.

"Here again?" the guy said, smiling. "Want some more fun?" His eyes ticked over to Kaoru. "Whoa. I'm seeing double, and I've only had five drinks." He grinned. "Hey Hikaru, I think he might even be cuter than you."

"He's a good kid," Hikaru said flatly. "Hands off him. His boyfriend wrestles bears for fun and likes to make gangsters cry."

The other guy held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. I could tell it wasn't you, though. You, wearing that?" Kaoru glared at him, offended. If there was one thing that you didn't insult about a Hitachiin, it was fashion sense.

"Don't look at me like that," the guy teased, looking over his plain white button-down and black cashmere pants with a smirk. They hung perfectly off his body, and he was hardly the only one in the place drooling over Kaoru, even if the redhead was out-of-place in the crowd of skintight leather and fishnet. "I'm not saying you're not cute. If Hikaru didn't just try to scare me off, I would probably jump your bones. You look like an easier target than he is. The kind who'd cry a little if you tried something." Kaoru reddened and looked away.

"If you're looking to take a little break from your bear-wrestler boyfriend, I could show you a good time."

Kaoru shot him a sweet little smile. "You're showing me that it's a good time to walk away, that's for sure."

"Ooh, spitfire. Hot."

"Hey, I mean it," Hikaru said sharply. "Leave him alone."

"Fine, fine," he said, sighing. "Spoil my fun, will you…" His gaze drifted towards Haruhi. From the predatory nature of said gaze, he seemed to think that yellow was very much Haruhi's color. "Well, hello."

Mori's eyes darkened. "Goodbye."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. I can tell where I'm not wanted. Still, can't blame a guy for trying, right?" He turned back to the older twin. "First time you've brought people with you."

"I didn't 'bring them'," Hikaru said, his tone sharp so that they could all hear the air quotes. "They just followed me."

"And you brought them here? Poor little lambs, being led by such a cruel master to a place like this. Not that I'm complaining, mind you… gives me… a _very _good view." Kaoru fought not to shudder as he felt the man's eyes crawl over him again.

"What, I'm not enough for you?" Hikaru drawled suggestively.

"Hardly. You're too much for me to handle. Well. Dance?"

"That, and maybe more, if you're nice to me," Hikaru said easily, sliding off his seat. "Later, Kaoru."

"Are you okay, Kao-chan?" Hunny asked sympathetically, his tiny hand closing over Kaoru's.

"Yeah, just give me a sec," he murmured, staring after his twin. Kyouya hadn't told him about anything like this. There were two possibilities: one, his guards hadn't thought to say that his twin was dancing and getting familiar with random guys. It was hardly life-threatening, after all. Two, Kyouya had known, and had wanted to spare his feelings.

He bet it was the second one, and he wished that he'd never found out… so he could see Kyouya's reasoning this time.

He felt sicker and sicker as he watched Hikaru, who flitted from one person to another, talking with them like old friends, with the guy's arm wrapped around his waist.

_Hikaru, how the hell are we going to get you back?

* * *

_

"Your friends didn't seem to think much of me," his partner for the night yelled over the music. Well, not really partner for the night. For the last few weeks Hikaru had found himself keeping company almost exclusively with him. He liked to tease people, sure—as shown by just how uncomfortable he had made Haruhi and Kaoru—but he wasn't really that bad. He, of all the others, had been the one who respected Hikaru's wishes not to hook up with anyone.

Though that might have had something to do with the number of broken noses Hikaru had given the people who tried.

Hikaru smirked, remembering the guarded looks on his friends' and brother's faces earlier. "They think a lot of you. Just none of it good."

"Evil as always," he murmured, dropping his mouth near Hikaru's ear so that he could be heard. Hikaru shuddered and pushed him away.

"I warned you enough times," the redhead said, swatting lightly at him. "You want to end up like the last twenty idiots?"

"Twenty? More like fifty." Hikaru couldn't help himself from preening at the exaggerated count—well, not _quite _so exaggerated, really. "And you know I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to do. But don't I deserve a little repayment for always backing you up?"

"Not like I need the backup."

"Fighting by yourself isn't just stupid, it's suicidal," the other boy replied, shaking his head. "Still, you're gorgeous when you're fighting… even if it does leave marks on you." His fingers traced the faint outline of a healing bruise on Hikaru's jaw. "You planning on starting something again tonight?"

"Not when I have babysitters with me." He tilted his head towards the bar. "The fight could turn ugly if they decide to get involved."

"Yeah, the dark-haired one looks tough."

Hikaru grinned. "I was talking about the blonde, actually." His smile vanished at the word 'blonde', but he didn't comment further.

A swift appraisal of Hunny revealed nothing but a diminutive boy clutching a stuffed toy and talking with Kaoru. "You're kidding."

"Not. Taking him on would be the kiss of death."

"I'd rather have a kiss from you," he teased the Hitachiin. At Hikaru's answering scowl, he shrugged. "One little kiss won't hurt, you know."

Hikaru glared at him. "Sure. That's what it always starts out as. Some meaningless mouth-to-mouth. And then it becomes something more, and it all spirals out of control…"

"Speaking from experience?"

The glare intensified. "Pry anymore and I'll be off like a dirty shirt."

He grinned, unfazed by the warning. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're hurting about something, Hikaru. I would have said it was a family thing… but then your brother showed up tonight, and he's looking at you like he'd love to jump between you and a bullet. And I don't think it's money troubles either, given how loaded you always seem to be. You don't seem like the type who cares that much about school, so it can't be stress from that. And that leaves…"

"Love troubles," Hikaru said sourly. "Shut up. If you think I'm going to spill my guts out to you, you've got another thing coming. Namely my fist in your face."

It was exactly that sort of thing which he liked about the golden-eyed teen. Hikaru was so sharp and stunning, with a mouth that never hesitated to spit out comebacks. "I don't expect anything," he answered. "What I do know is that you're broken somehow…" Hikaru flinched. "But I still think you're beautiful."

The redhead's eyes widened slightly as he continued. They'd stopped dancing, and were simply standing face to face on the dance floor now, an isolated spot in the sea of revelers. His hands rested lightly on Hikaru's hips.

"You're serious?" the Hitachiin croaked. Casual encounters weren't that unusual in this kind of scene, but the way he'd uttered those words had a hint of permanence about them.

"I can patch you up," he breathed into Hikaru's ear. "I'm good at that."

Hikaru stared up at him. Maybe that was what he needed: eyes that weren't purple-blue. Hair that didn't gleam white-blonde. A different set of lips and arms. He shivered at the sensation of a thumb caressing his lower lip. Or maybe, like this, with the lights pulsating around them, if he knocked back a couple more drinks, if he allowed his eyes to flutter shut, he could pretend…

_No._

"I can't," he said, pushing the other boy away with a shaky smile. "I'm sorry."

He nodded, understanding, offering Hikaru an answering grin. "Not good enough for you?" he joked.

"Hardly," Hikaru snorted. "I'm the one you said was broken." He looked away. "Maybe… I don't think I'm ready to be patched up."

He studied Hikaru and shook his head. "You're ready, Hikaru. It's just not going to be me. It can't be just anyone, yeah? Whoever it was that made you need to be fixed in the first place… he's the one you need."

* * *

When Hikaru came back to the bar with the other guy's arm wrapped around his waist, Kaoru thought he would have to rip said appendage off. For once he could sympathize with his brother's impulses to murder Kyouya. "That's enough, Hikaru," he said quietly.

"See, this is why I didn't want you to come along in the first place," his twin said. He leaned over the counter. "You know what, give me the big bottle over there."

The bartender looked at him. "You sure? That's Bacardi 151. That's the demon rum, kid. 151-proof. If you think shots equipped you for something like this, you've got another thing coming."

Hikaru slid a wad of bills over to him. "Do I look unsure to you?" At that, the bartender shrugged and handed it over.

"You're just going to let him?"Haruhi burst out at the bartender.

He raised his eyebrow at her. "Look, little miss, for this amount of money I'd be willing to serve your stuffed bunny friend over there."

"And that's exactly why this is my kind of place. Cheers, Kaoru," Hikaru said, grinning, as he uncorked it and brought it near his lips.

Kaoru grabbed his hand. They were pretty experienced drinkers, thanks to the kind of world they inhabited. Liquor during parties was customary. But not like _this._ "Hikaru, there's a fine line between stupid and suicidal, okay? And I'm not letting you cross it."

"Hey, just leave it. Maybe you want to play the good brother, but people come here for a reason," the other guy said, trying to calm Kaoru down. "Just leave him alone. Hikaru'll be fine." He lowered his voice. "If he goes slow and we alternate it with water, he'll be okay, yeah?"

"You've become really boring," Hikaru said, rolling his eyes. "This is my life, okay? I already told you to stop mothering me."

"So you think that we should stay out of each other's decisions and just let us do whatever we want?" The younger redhead's eyes narrowed as his mind worked in overdrive, weighing his options. Oh, Kyouya was _so _going to kill him for this. And kill Hikaru too, probably. But he figured that it was better for his twin to die painfully by his boyfriend's hands than to waste away like this.

"Hell, yeah," Hikaru sneered, trying to tug the bottle away from his twin and making some of the rum slosh out. Kaoru had a much stronger grip, though (most likely honed from years of ruler-bashing, dictionary-throwing and other forms of Hikaru torture).

Kaoru smiled sweetly at him. "I see."

_Here goes nothing._

"Well, screw that." He took the bottle, tilted his head back, then swallowed.

The entire bottle. Without pausing once for air.

Well, after all, this was a guy who could drink a gallon of maple syrup in thirty seconds…

"What the fuck? Kaoru!" Hikaru grabbed his shoulders as his twin lowered the empty bottle. The other guy took it from him before it could slip past his fingers. "Kaoru? Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone," Kaoru said, mimicking the words Hikaru's companion had thrown at him earlier. "I'll be fine." He blinked, trying to clear his head and resist the urge to gag. "Thought you said… we make our own decisions."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Hikaru cursed, as Haruhi, Mori and Hunny jumped out of their seats to reach for his brother. He glanced back at his friend, who turned over the bottle to see if anything remained.

Not a single drop was left.

"Your brother's wild," he said, wide-eyed with surprise and respect. Hikaru suppressed the urge to smack him in the head.

"Kaoru?" Haruhi inquired tentatively.

The redhead winced. "That's vile." His face went white. "Really vile." His appetite had always been light, so he hadn't eaten much for dinner. That, coupled with lack of sleep… the alcohol was hitting him hard and fast, and Hikaru had to grab him by the arm.

"We need to take him home," Hikaru said, panic bubbling in his stomach. Kaoru could sleep it off. "Hunny-sempai, can you call my driver?"

"Give him here."

Hikaru looked up at the furious, cold voice. "Demon king? What are you doing here?"

"Give. Me. Kaoru. _Now._" Wordlessly Hikaru handed his brother over. Kyouya supported Kaoru's frame against his, looking as though he wanted to pull the redhead up into his arms but afraid that any sudden or extreme movement would just make it worse.

The Shadow King looked ready to kill. "Naturally my security informed that Kaoru was with you. I rushed here the moment they called me." He cradled Kaoru in his arms, whispering something softly into his boyfriend's ear, then glanced at the boy with Hikaru. "Hikaru was right, by the way. I do wrestle bears for fun… so you should be glad he warned you off Kaoru."

Hikaru flinched. "I didn't think that Kaoru would…"

"No, you didn't." Kyouya's voice was deadly. "You didn't _think_. We have to go."

"I'm calling our car—"

"Not home," he shot back, rage written all over his features. "To a doctor. Or didn't you know that alcohol poisoning could kill someone? Even if it doesn't kill him, it could cause irreversible brain damage."

Hikaru froze. "You're…" _Lying_, he'd been about to say, but already Kyouya was carefully half-carrying, half-dragging Kaoru away, the others on his heels.

"Sempai," he heard Kaoru utter softly. He sounded confused, already slurring. He was looking up at his boyfriend and curling his fingers possessively around his arm. "_My _sempai."

"Yes, Kaoru. Always yours," Kyouya promised, hands supporting him. The lecture he would save for later… _If there is a later,_ he thought pessimistically, but he quickly squashed that thought. _No._

"That's the problem, isn't it?" Kaoru mumbled. "Hikaru doesn't have _his _sempai?"

Hikaru's throat constricted. "I don't love him," he snarled. "If I did, do you think that I would be here, at this club, dancing with more people than I can count every night?"

Golden eyes met his. "Hikaru," his twin struggled to get out. "I might… have done that too. If sempai left me."

"You are a complete idiot." The Shadow King glared at him. "Are you coming back with us, or are you staying?"

"I'm…" He glanced back. The other guy was standing there, staring at him. The lights still flashed and pulsed around them, while most people either watched their little scene or ignored them, assuming it was just another drunk passed out.

"What are you waiting for?" his bar friend asked him, pushing him towards the rest of the Host Club. "Go."

He knew he'd just fucked up royally.

Kyouya nodded. "That's what I thought," he said, sweeping out of the club with so much rage rolling off him in waves that the crowd of people parted before him without question.

* * *

A/N: That is not meant to be a commentary on alcohol, by the way. I think if you drink responsibly, it's all good. Just not an entire bottle in one go.

We're near the end, I promise. I'll try to take some time out of my crazy schedule to write. After all, I can't start on any of the ideas I have for other multichapters if I don't finish NaF first, right? I hope you guys all have a beautiful 2011. Preferably one where you don't go homicidal from stress. Love you all!


	9. Counterbalancing

A/N: Happy Heart's Day, darlings! I'm having a really stressful time at school, but I managed to find some time to put this up (hooray!) and dedicate this to my my personal panda. And also to my wonderful reviewers: Full-Empty-Spirit, xRosePetalx, Angel015, Yumi-chan-likes-chainsaws, porcelainanimals, pi-or-pie, Stupid Cow, chobncheese, MemoriesOfDyingDays, the delightful tandem of iPercy and Nikita-chan6, Krazy Kitsune13, Flacks, Always A Bookworm, Jillkun-ness, Rouge, marble-fire, and powderfaith. Lots of Hikaru hate from most of you guys, and lots of worrying about Kaoru. Sorry to keep you guys hanging for so long!

I tried to bum-rush this chapter, so it may be a bit messy at bits, but hopefully there aren't too many mistakes.

Oh yes, did I mention that this is the last chapter? :) There's still an epilogue coming up, hopefully will be done with it really quickly.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Counterbalancing

Tamaki had been staring out the window, so he knew precisely when the car pulled up to the driveway. Earlier on the three of them—him, his best friend, and Fuyumi—had been drinking tea and chatting in the living room. Well, Fuyumi and Kyouya had been chatting. He had sat there and listened to them, knowing that they were only trying to make him feel better.

Which was a nice sentiment… but really all he wanted at the moment was to cut himself off from the world.

The moment Kyouya had gotten a call about Kaoru he had flown out the door, not even slowing enough to grab a coat or explain properly. All he'd said was, "I need to go to him."

He wished he could do that. Just fly out to wherever Hikaru was.

He sighed.

Fuyumi, who was staying in the room with him, glanced up from her book. "Are you worried, Tamaki-kun?" He nodded. "Well… it'll be okay. Kyouya looked really angry, so I feel bad for whoever pissed him off." She chuckled.

"No, I let the other party off very easily. We're back, neesan. Tamaki."

_We? _He looked up and almost choked as his eyes shot past the figures of Kyouya, Haruhi, Mori and Hunny.

_Hikaru._ Looking lean and beautiful and… _painful_. He didn't look quite like the Hikaru before. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Kyouya carried Kaoru inside and propped him up against the pillows in a half-sitting position. Kaoru made a little moan of protest, which made Kyouya's face darken.

"Oh my God," Fuyumi said, fluttering over to their sides. "What happened to him?"

"Too much to drink," said Kyouya. "Call the doctor, will you? I already contacted her on our way back, but find out how much longer it'll take her to get here. If Kaoru dies of alcohol poisoning…"

Kaoru trying to pickle himself? It just didn't fit in with her image of the redhead. "I didn't know Kaoru drank," she said. "How much did he have?"

Hikaru looked at the floor. "…one drink."

"One drink of what?"

"One drink of an entire bottle of 151-proof alcohol," Kyouya snapped. "Doctor. _Now._" He flipped open his phone and began dialing a number.

"I thought I was calling the doctor," Fuyumi said.

"This isn't the doctor," Kyouya replied tersely.

"Now, Kyouya?" Mori asked. The Shadow King's eyes flashed, but he nodded in affirmation. The tall senior nodded back. "You'll never find better timing than this."

Rage flew across the younger boy's features. "I never asked for this kind of timing!"

Hunny laid a placating hand on his arm. "But you'll take advantage of it all the same, ne, Kyou-chan?"

A little of the tension in the sophomore's body left him at the gentle touch. "Only because it's what Kaoru would have wanted me to do. It's my fault—the odds were likeliest that Hikaru would be the one affected; second would have been Tamaki. I didn't factor in Kaoru's overprotective streak… no, I did, but not enough. I wanted to believe that nothing would happen to him…" He bit his lip, looking away. Hunny sighed.

Kyouya put the phone to his ear, waited a few moments, then began speaking rapidly into it. "Moshimoshi? Yes, this is Ootori Kyouya. I apologize about the late hour, but I think that that will only strengthen my case. About the matter we discussed previously… yes. Yes, I was correct. Heading here…? Well, I didn't think you'd acknowledge my victory without confirmation anyway. No, that wasn't a snipe about your faith in me. Thank you." He snapped his phone shut.

Hikaru slid to a sitting position on the floor. "Christ," he said, gripping his head in his hands. He felt sick—a little from the alcohol, a lot from the situation, and a bit extra from the insane speed they'd driven at on the way back. Kyouya had ordered his driver to skip all the red lights, contacting the police to notify them that "It's an emergency, and if you pull us over someone could die" in tones that promised extreme torture for whoever was foolish enough not to listen to his warning. Especially when Kaoru had passed out in Kyouya's arms somewhere in the middle of the ride. _Then _his call had turned particularly nasty.

The redhead bit his lip. "He's not… he's okay, right?"

"He'd better be," Kyouya said grimly, his tone threatening hell to anyone and anything that happened to get in his path if Kaoru turned out to _not _be okay. Haruhi couldn't help wondering if that was how the apocalypse would finally happen: something happening to Kaoru that would set Kyouya off badly enough that he destroyed the world.

"Our doctor will be here in five minutes," Fuyumi reported, setting the receiver down. Kyouya cursed at the delay, but settled down beside his boyfriend. Kaoru's breathing had slowed, and his skin had been leeched of all color.

"Damn it, why do you always do these things?" he muttered, stroking the side of Kaoru's face. "If this doesn't work out… if you even _dare _to die on me, I'm taking over the whole goddamn world. Starting with the Suoh family."

The way he was spitting out curses was starting to frighten everyone. It was Kyouya's reaction, more than Kaoru's actual situation, that was making Hikaru panic. Yes, they all knew that the Shadow King was notoriously overprotective of Kaoru. But then, it was the first time he had reacted this way to Kaoru getting hurt.

"Couldn't we call an ambulance?" asked Haruhi.

"No. It'll be all over the papers tomorrow if we do… besides, our doctor will be faster, trust me. And our house has all the equipment a doctor would need for anything from a hangnail to brain surgery." It was something Kyouya had insisted on installing into his wing of the house. His brothers thought he was paranoid—and he was—but he wasn't like them. They only concerned themselves with the business aspect of the hospital industry, while he familiarized himself with the procedures necessary in any medical emergency, and equipped accordingly.

And he had never been so thankful that he had.

Kyouya wouldn't let go of Kaoru's hand, but he took off his shoe and threw it at Tamaki, hitting him in the forehead.

Fuyumi let out a little gasp of shock. It was exceedingly rare that Kyouya ever showed his anger physically. Her little brother's eyes narrowed in barely contained fury.

"You. Stop being catatonic and talk this out. My boyfriend is lying here…" Kyouya trailed off, his jaw tightening. "Talk. _Now._ If you can't, write a damn letter. Use sign language. I don't care if you have to use interpretative dance. Just _do it._"

* * *

Tamaki sat down next to Hikaru. The other boy looked utterly broken. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. How long had it been since he'd spoken? Hikaru buried his face in his knees.

A few minutes passed and Kyouya was starting to burn a hole in him with all his murderous glaring. "Hikaru," he tried. His voice was soft, raspy. It barely sounded like him. But the redhead looked up anyway. "He'll be fine." He licked his lips, tried clearing his throat. "W… what about you?"

"Me?" Hikaru said. "What about me?"

When had it become so hard to talk? "I want to know if _you're _fine."

The younger boy gave him a look. "That would have been me. Not Kaoru. I _bought _the bottle. I was going to drink it. He just… he just took it. That _should _have been me." He closed his eyes. "No. I wasn't even going to really do something that stupid. I just wanted to… rebel a little. And then he had to be a brainless hero and show me just what an idiot I've been." He dropped his gaze. "And you want to know if I'm _fine?_"

Tamaki could have cried for him. Instead, he embraced him. "Hikaru…" The door opened, and a woman in a white coat entered. Tamaki vaguely recognized her from the time that they had their school physicals before. Already she was snapping out orders while Kyouya got out of her way and tensely stood by.

"This isn't your fault. You mustn't blame yourself."

"Then who am I supposed to blame? Kaoru, for taking the hit? You, because…" Hikaru trailed off, going impossibly pale as he watched them put a tube down Kaoru's throat.

"Am I the reason you've been acting the way you have?" He didn't even have to ask. He'd known from the very start.

Hikaru reddened. "You—you're so full of yourself—like that's got anything to do with it—who cares about someone as blonde as you anyway—"

He placed a finger on his ex-boyfriend's lips, shushing him. "Let's run away, Hikaru."

The redhead stilled. "What?"

"I mean it. Let's elope. I've never known a hell worse than the last few weeks without you. I'll… I'll get a job. I'll find a way to send money to my mother somehow. Kyouya says she's gotten much stronger recently, anyway—remember the sophomore trip to France, when I couldn't go? She's doing better. Maybe enough not to suffer if the Suoh family stops funding her. And I know Kyouya could find a way to protect your family." He glanced at the Shadow King for confirmation, and although the dark-haired boy winced, he also nodded. Yes, he could. Kyouya could do anything, especially since it was for Kaoru too.

Hikaru was silent, and for a moment Tamaki felt a touch of fear. After everything that had happened tonight, he could only guess at what kind of turmoil the younger boy was going through. His brother, his twin, was lying there, pale as death, and it was indirectly because of Tamaki. And there were so many maybes. Maybe his mother wasn't all right after all. Maybe Kyouya couldn't shield the Hitachiin family enough—he knew he relied too much on his best friend; Kyouya wasn't superman, but they tended to forget that.

He would understand if the redhead decided… "Unless… you've realized that you don't want me after all?"

Golden eyes shot up to meet his. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

Tamaki opened his mouth to answer, but the freshman held his hand up and spoke, not meeting his gaze.

"I want you. I want… _this._ What you're offering… I want today with you, and tomorrow, and every day after that. I want to yell at you for always being such an idiot, then turn around and let you be that idiot anyway. I want… I want to have that day on the beach and the night before you left me, again and again. I want it all, Rene…" He shuddered at Tamaki's surprised intake of breath. It was only the third time he'd called the blonde by his given name, and only the second time that Tamaki had been conscious to hear it. "I'm tired of us having to run away from what we have."

"It's time we ran away from what's pulling us apart instead," Tamaki murmured, his hand lifting to caress Hikaru's cheek.

"You're telling me that it's worth it, Tamaki?" the Shadow King asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're throwing away everything. Everything that was served to you on a silver platter. Your mother. Your friends. Your wealth. Your family. Are you really all right with that?"

"If you're asking me if I can bear another evening like this, Kyouya… if I could stand it if it were _Hikaru_ lying there and I were in your place…" It was only by a trick of fate that it was one redhead instead of another lying on that bed, and much as he loathed the fact that Kaoru was in danger, the thought of it being Hikaru… "_I can't._"

Kyouya shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "I thought so," he said, a note of grim satisfaction in his voice.

"All right, Kyouya-kun, that's enough. You've made your point." They looked up to see the silent intruder who'd opened the door. "Tamaki, it's time that we talked."

"F… father?"

He smiled. "And not just me." He stepped back to reveal the imposing figure standing behind him.

"_Grandmother?"

* * *

_

"Kyouya-kun has good taste, doesn't he?" observed Tamaki's father, taking in the décor of the room Kyouya had lent them for their discussion. It was Kyouya's private study: elegant, with classic décor and functional furniture. It was where he came to _work_, not study. There was a very clear division: work was serious. Studying, however, frequently involved Kaoru, and so was done in his bedroom instead. Or else it involved Tamaki… in which case it would probably be done somewhere fireproof, shockproof, and waterproof. Preferably with a straitjacket lying within arm's reach.

Chairman Suoh folded his arms and indicated that he and Hikaru sit down. "So." The old witch, as Hikaru viewed Suoh Shizue, had taken her own spot far, far away from them. They'd only left on Kyouya's assurances that he would come to notify them once Kaoru was awake—"Yes, Hikaru, I _will _come get you, now move it or I will be very, very angry… yes, angrier than I already am!"—but none of them looked at all as though they were all that happy to be there, save perhaps the Chairman. Tamaki's lips were compressed into a tight line, as though he was contemplating what to say. Shizue looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. And Hikaru looked as though he'd very much like to make Shizue swallow a lemon… about half a dozen, preferably coated in arsenic.

Tamaki swallowed hard, not looking at his grandmother at all. "Father. Why are you…?"

"Here? Well, Kyouya-kun called me." Tamaki abruptly recalled the conversation Kyouya had just had on his cellphone earlier.

"You know quite well that Kyouya personally reports to all the parents of your club members at least once a week. A few weeks ago, he suddenly contacted me outside of his regular schedule. He wanted to talk to me about, well…" He indicated Hikaru. "Your charming young lover."

"Ex," the Hitachiin said, scowling. "Leave me, or the Hitachiin family and milord's mother both get crushed. So it's really no surprise that it's _ex_-lover, right?" He could practically hear Kaoru's voice in his head, yelling at him to play nice, as it was his former boyfriend's father he was addressing, and it was imperative that he make a good impression. He rebelled, though, reminding the mental Kaoru voice that said father was part of the reason that the boyfriend had a _former _slapped onto the title.

"I'm very sorry that you got caught up in this, Hikaru-kun," said Chairman Suoh.

"I am too," Hikaru said. "But I was the one who also… who fell in…" "He reddened. "Well, let's just say the feeling's mutual."

Yuzuru chuckled. He could see what his son liked about Hikaru. He could already imagine the two sitting across him at the dinner table while he teased them. He looked at Tamaki. "You were serious about running away?"

"I was. I _am."_

"And you, Hikaru-kun… you really think that going off with my scatter-brained boy whose only good point is his pretty face is a bright idea?"

"Well… that's one _really _pretty face," Hikaru said flippantly. He never _could _get rid of his habit of saying stupid, ridiculous things when he was in a tight situation. But his hands were shaking, and he had to press them together to try to hide it—no use; the three Suohs could see the tremors clearly. "So yes. I'd do it."

"You do know that the two of you are minors and would be brought back in a heartbeat, right?"

Tamaki winced at that, but said, "I'd still do it."

"Hikaru-kun?"

"Me too."

"And of course we'd find you. There's nowhere to hide, not from a network as wide and powerful as ours."

"Still doing it," Tamaki put in.

Hikaru shrugged. "I like to lead people on a merry chase anyway."

"The blind leading the blind," Shizue said, her eyes narrowing.

Tamaki growled at her—the first sign of hostility he'd ever displayed. He'd always played the good grandson, despite all her abuse. "Listen up," he said, furious for once. "If you do anything, I'm going to the media. I'll tell them exactly what's happening. About my mother, the circumstances that brought me here to Japan, about what you're doing to me and Hikaru." He glanced at the redhead, hoping he hadn't gone too far.

But Hikaru was completely on his side. "And I doubt that the press would like what you're doing. My parents fully support our relationship," the freshman said. "They'll be glad to back us up. Maybe you'll get try to stop them… but I bet that would only make the scandal worse."

"Thugs!" she retorted. "You resort to high-handed means to get your way—"

"Gee, wonder where we got the idea?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mother," Chairman Suoh sighed, shaking his head. "All right, that's enough. Lucky for you two you've got someone smart pulling your leashes... we _do _have an alternative that won't force you two to play that card." He smiled. "I didn't quite believe Kyouya-kun when he said that you'd fallen in love, Tamaki. Even though your teachers had already told me that you were failing your classes, I thought you were just being melodramatic as usual. I bet him quite a few stocks that it would pass given time."

Hikaru snorted. "You bet against Kyouya-sempai?" He bit his tongue to keep himself from adding, "Now I see where milord got his stupidity from."

But the Chairman smiled as though he'd heard his thoughts. "Yes, I see your point. I'll never bet against Kyouya-kun again. He's too smart. He _did _warn me that you would do something severe… I'm glad he called us and we got here in time to stop you two."

"You aren't separating us," Tamaki answered at once.

"No… no, I'm not." They stared at him incredulously as he answered.

"You're not giving us a choice," Shizue muttered.

"Kyouya-kun's… _fiancé_ is in there because the two of you were kept apart." Kyouya had been remarkably upfront with him about his relationship with Kaoru. Perhaps as an attempt to convince him that there was nothing at all wrong with Tamaki.

Other than the obvious, anyway.

"The next time, it could be one of you." He sighed. "I know what it's like to fall madly in love with someone you shouldn't, Tamaki. And I have to tell you… it's very difficult. But—"

"—but Tamaki has options," Kyouya said from the doorway, Hunny and Mori standing behind him. A smirk was playing on his lips. Hikaru recognized that smirk. The Shadow King had worn it every time one of his schemes to assassinate him had failed spectacularly.

_We're going to win this,_ Hikaru realized. Tamaki squeezed his hand.

Game. Set. _Match_.

* * *

"Pardon me for interrupting, Chairman. Suoh Shizue-sama." He directed his glance at Hikaru. "Kaoru's stabilized and the doctor confirmed that he'll be fine. He's asleep right now, but he'll probably wake up with no lasting damage."

"Oh, God. Thank God," Hikaru said, almost collapsing in relief against Tamaki. Then he became acutely aware of everyone's eyes on him and he reddened. "Well, of course he'd pull through. He's a Hitachiin. We're a hardy bunch. You know, all our gorgeousness makes us live longer. And then when we do die, we live pretty corpses behind."

Kyouya couldn't help a small smile before he turned back to Chairman Suoh. Hikaru really hated being put on the spot like that, especially when it came to showing anything that indicated that he might actually have feelings. Where he got the idea that real men had the emotional capacity of rocks was quite beyond him. "Hikaru's quite a character, isn't he?"

"He's even more interesting than you'd told me," the older man agreed with a grin. "The last time I dropped in to check on your club, there were parents everywhere and you were all acting so prim and proper. This is much better."

"All things considered, I think that your son's chosen well. Hikaru is a good balance to his dreamy nature, and his looks certainly don't hurt."

"I'm right here, you know," mumbled Hikaru. "You guys talk about me like I can't hear everything you're saying…"

They both ignored him, as the Chairman said, "You're biased. He looks just like your fiancé, Kyouya-kun."

"And quite an attractive fiancé Kaoru is…"

"I'm inclined to agree," admitted Chairman Suoh. Shizue scowled at him, but held her tongue. Kyouya caught the look and inclined his head at her.

"Tamaki is your only heir. As long as he keeps this matter private, surely it will be acceptable?" His eyes glinted. "After all, if he _does _voluntarily choose to reject his right to inherit… then the one in trouble will not be him. It'll be the company. Chairman, you've already refused point-blank to take another wife, no matter what the circumstances, isn't that so?"

"I will not make the same mistake again," he agreed.

"Unless the Board decides to take an outsider as the next head, everything hinges on Tamaki. And Suoh-sama has no wish to see a stranger inherit the family business… a fact that Suoh-sama conveniently forgot to tell her grandchild."

Shizue was silent a moment. "I am glad that you are not my grandson," she finally said. The Shadow King kept his face impassive, but Hikaru bet that he was snickering inside.

"What are you saying, Kyouya?" Tamaki asked, astonished, his eyes opening wide.

Hunny piped up, "He's saying that as the circumstances are, if your father chooses to support you, Tama-chan, there's nothing your grandmother can do… unless she's willing to throw away everything she's worked for until now."

"Which she isn't," the Shadow King finished smugly.

"Checkmate, Kyouya-kun?" the Chairman said with a small smile. "Sometimes it's difficult to believe that you're so young."

"He's actually a millennia-old demon wearing a human's skin," Hikaru put in, unable to help himself. It was practically a reflex to insult Kyouya now. He felt like he was completely out of his league: Kyouya was there, logging heads with some of the biggest names in the current Japanese economy; Hunny and Mori both seemed to know exactly what was going on… and were supporting him.

"Not now, Hika-chan," Hunny chirped, patting him on the arm. "The grown-ups are talking, okay? You can chatter later."

"I never believed that age was an indicator of ability anyway," Kyouya said. "But you overestimate me, Chairman. I don't have the answers to everything."

"What about the need for a future heir, then, Kyouya-kun?"

"There are many choices open to them. Adoption. A surrogate mother." Kyouya folded his arms and leaned across the door frame. "The future is yet uncertain, Chairman. Times are changing. Same-sex couples are gaining acceptance. I'm not saying that it will be an easy path but then…" He shrugged. "Think of it as a challenge that will shape your son better."

"Are you talking about Tamaki or yourself, Kyouya-kun?"

Kyouya grinned. "I'll admit that a lot of that applies to me as well."

Shizue narrowed her eyes. "And the possibility that the papers will get hold of this news and turn it into a scandal?"

"They won't," the Shadow King said confidently. "I have experience handling the same problem. We can take measures to prevent that. And on the extremely small chance that they do, it's a simple task to either turn it into good PR or else find a way to make them look as though they'd misinterpreted an innocent scene, at which point we can switch the roles from someone caught doing something they shouldn't—which I don't believe is how we should look at it in the first place—to victims of gossip-hungry press."

"I thought you said that you didn't have the answers to everything, Kyouya-kun."

"Well, not everything," Kyouya said. "But most things. You were rather hasty in your decision to reject their relationship. There are ways to get around all the difficulties you've foreseen." He looked t them in askance. "Do I take it then that you're giving them your blessing?"

"As though I could say anything else. You all certainly aren't giving us a choice," the Chairman answered, holding his hands up in surrender. "Mother?"

"You talk as though the Morinozuka and Haninozuka families haven't already made moves against us," Shizue said icily. Tamaki's eyes widened. The Suoh family _was _powerful, and they could crush the Hitachiins easily. But if you combined the Hitachiins, the Morinozukas, and the Haninozukas, they were a more than formidable foe. Not to mention the Ootoris…

"We had no intention of hostility between our families," Mori answered. "We simply wanted to support the future chairman. What's good for him is good for the company as well."

"We'll take care of them," Hunny promised. "If anything happens, we'll answer for it. We're their sempais." He looked at Hikaru, who was abruptly reminded that when Kyouya and Kaoru had been fighting, they were the ones who'd repaired their relationship. They tended to focus so much on what the Shadow King could do that he forgot just how brilliant the seniors were in their own right at fixing things. "You guys don't rely on us enough. Your sempais are supposed to be here for you when you need them, ne? So stop trying to do everything yourselves."

"If need be, I'll become the next Prime Minister," Kyouya offered dispassionately. "I'll enforce new laws to make the public accept the situation."

They all shuddered. The thought of Kyouya running the country was truly frightening. Especially knowing that he really _could _do it.

"How did you ever get your father to agree?" Yuzuru asked Kyouya, raising an eyebrow.

The younger man smirked. "I have proved myself enough times in the past, and I've never been wrong yet. He trusts me… as you should now trust Tamaki."

Shizue nodded against her will. "Fine. Do as you wish. But don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she swept out of the room, head held high. But she glanced back at them and Tamaki would have sworn that she'd smiled a little at him… the first time she ever had.

"Stubborn old lady," Yuzuru said. "Honestly, Tamaki, she's probably just put out because she knows she made a mistake. But she'll come around. She's strict with you because she thinks we indulge you too much. She's probably spitting nails at being proven wrong, but she'll respect you a lot more now that you've managed a victory against her. She's not good at showing it, but she loves you… deep down."

"Very, very deep down, apparently," Hikaru mumbled.

Yuzuru's eyes twinkled. "I'll talk to mother. She'll come around, and before you know it I bet she'll be cooing over you, Hikaru-kun. You're quite charming, and she admires strong-willed people. You two had better have plans for kids, though. She wants great-grandchildren to terrorize and spoil rotten." He grinned at Tamaki. "In any case, I think that you chose beautifully, Tamaki. Like father, like son."

"I think so too," Tamaki said, smiling. "Father… thank you."

'Don't thank me, thank Hikaru-kun. I have no idea what he sees in you," he said mockingly.

"Well, when he's around I get a nice punching bag," Hikaru deadpanned. Then he fidgeted. "Ano… Chairman… thank you." He blushed crimson as he bowed deeply. "F-f-for everything."

The Chairman grinned. He _definitely _needed to get them to have dinner with him sometime, so that he could tease Hikaru and Tamaki to his heart's content. But that could wait. All in good time. "You're welcome, Hikaru-kun. And thank you, as well." He nodded at them as he started out the door, calling over his shoulder, "You'll have your stocks by tomorrow, Kyouya-kun."

"Wait!" Hikaru said, stopping him. "I have to ask… what did Kyouya-sempai bet?" This time even Mori and Hunny seemed at a loss. Now that they thought about it, what on earth did Kyouya have to offer that would make Yuzuru agree to a random gamble with him?

"He doesn't need to know that," Kyouya said hastily.

But the Chairman just raised an eyebrow. "Why so modest, Kyouya-kun? Initially I wondered whether he would bet his own relationship with Kaoru-kun…"

The Shadow King's expression suddenly turned blank, but Hikaru saw the way his hands curled into fists, nails digging into his palms. "And I'm sure you remember how I responded to that, Chairman." No matter what he stood to gain or how certain he would have been on the outcome, he would never have agreed to a wager where Kaoru was the stake.

For a moment even Yuzuru seemed cowed. He cleared his throat. "In any case, he promised that if he lost he would kowtow to me three times at every social gathering we met at. For the rest of my life." Everyone's jaws dropped, while the Shadow King merely looked away. They all knew that Kyouya would never give up the opportunity presented to make deals at those events; he would have gone through with it, for sure… and the social humiliation would have been of epic magnitudes.

"I don't lose," Kyouya just said, shrugging.

"That wasn't what you thought yesterday," Hunny said, shaking his head, remembering how the sophomore had been so unsure of himself.

"You have good friends, Tamaki," the Chairman said. "And a good boyfriend, too. Take care of them."

* * *

Once Yuzuru left, silence fell. Tamaki and Hikaru looked at each other in disbelief. Had that all really happened?

Kyouya grinned at the stupefaction on their faces. They seemed practically paralyzed with relief. He went over to a side drawer, pulled out a digital camera, and took a picture of their expressions. Priceless, really.

"I want a copy of that," Hunny said with a giggle.

"Make mine a dozen," Mori said darkly.

"A dozen, sempai?"

Mori nodded. "Apparently yellow isn't Haruhi's color," he said.

_Oh._ Kyouya winced and nodded at the apparent non sequitur. "I see."

And Kaoru would have a good laugh about it too when he woke up. He bet that the redhead would be annoyed at missing everything.

Speaking of which…

"I'm glad that it all turned out for the better," he said dryly. "Otherwise I really would have destroyed your family, Tamaki. Be thankful Kaoru pulled through this and the doctor said he wouldn't suffer any lasting effects."

Hikaru snapped out of his trance. "Shadow King… I'm sorry about Kaoru."

"You ought to apologize to him for being so foolish."

"And to all of you guys, really," he said, ashamed. "I was the biggest ass ever. But especially to you, piranha—I mean, Kyouya-sempai. Because I got my own twin involved in this… and you love him." He gritted his teeth. "So take it out on me. Really."

Kyouya considered. "Well, I'd say that you're probably taking the easy way out by asking me instead of a martial arts expert and a kendo master… but all right."

Tamaki paled. "Uh, Hikaru, that wasn't such a good idea—"

"Oh, be quiet, Tamaki," the Shadow King said, eyes glinting. "I'll only take ten punches."

"Only ten?" Hikaru asked. "Are you sure?"

"Don't say that, Hikaru, please, don't egg him on," Tamaki begged.

"But I deserve so much more—"

"Yes, you do," Kyouya said. "But I think of it this way… Kaoru wouldn't be very happy to wake up and find out that I made him an only child. So here we go… _one._"

The redhead's eyes widened comically as the sophomore's fist hit him squarely in the gut with so much force that he ended up writhing on the ground, completely winded.

To think that he'd been trying to murder Kyouya for ages and all it took for the Shadow King to have him lying on his back was one hit…

"Hmm. Tachibana-san will be quite annoyed with me for that one," Kyouya said clinically, examining the effect of his blow. He pulled Hikaru up by the lapels and slammed him against the wall, but he continued talking to Hunny and Mori as though he wasn't doing anything. "He would complain that I didn't put enough force in it…"

"Tachibana-san thinks that the mere fact that you're even learning self-defense is a miracle," Mori pointed out. The guard adored his employer so much that if Kyouya had decided to wear a pink tutu he would probably just have declared that the Shadow King pulled it off perfectly and would start a new fashion trend.

"Tachi-chan wouldn't have gotten mad. You never mess up in your practice. He would have known that you held back, ne, Kyou-chan?" Hunny asked him.

"Had to," the Shadow King said with a shrug, pressing his arm against Hikaru's windpipe. The redhead flailed, trying to get air, but he ignored him. "Otherwise all my good work will be for naught. I mean, after all the trouble I went to, why should I kill him off? Other than making myself feel better, of course." He glanced at the younger boy writhing against the wall. "Ready for punch number two?"

"Kyouya," Mori reminded him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "_Kaoru is fine._"

At Hikaru's breathless attempts to struggle, he sighed and released him. Hikaru fell to the ground, gasping. Kyouya sighed, watching him writhe. "One was enough. I'll get at Kaoru instead… God knows it's impossible to convince him to change his mind once he's made it up on something, and obviously you didn't intend for him to down that rum. I'll just have a few words with him. Do you want me to call the doctor back for you?"

Hikaru massaged his throat and managed to choke out, "Nah… I think I'll cough up a lung… but that shouldn't be too fatal." It was hard to be flippant when his voice was shaking so much. And honestly—he was terrified. Kyouya was _brutal_. He swore to himself he'd never put do anything that would make Kaoru do anything stupid ever again.

"He's okay," Hunny chirped. "If Hika-chan can be that sarcastic, he'll be just fine."

As Tamaki helped to haul Hikaru to his feet and over to one of the couches, Kyouya said, "Feel free to talk in here. I'm going back to wait for Kaoru to wake up. Haruhi and Fuyumi-neesan are watching him for us at the moment and I must ensure that my sister hasn't poisoned Haruhi's impressionable young mind."

Hunny laughed. "I want to see that look on Haru-chan's face again, when Fuyu-chan asked her about lingerie." He grinned up at Mori, who refused to comment, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the ceiling. "Come on, Takashi, let's go see if Fuyu-chan's asking her about how many children you two are going to have!" He bounded out, his long-suffering cousin at his heels.

"Don't do anything too extreme in here," Kyouya warned them. "I shouldn't even have to tell you, but I'm very fond of the upholstery on that couch, and my desk is _sacred._ If you get any bodily fluids on anything I'll kill you both."

Tamaki blushed. "We weren't—!"

"Tama-chan's a pervert," Hunny's voice floated in through the open door.

"Behave," Kyouya said with a smirk as he left.

* * *

Kaoru opened his eyes slowly. "Uhhh…" he blinked.

"You're awake?" His boyfriend was sitting beside him, holding his other hand. Kaoru looked past him and blearily noted that Haruhi, Mori and Hunny were all tangled up on the couch, sleeping under some blankets. They looked like an adorable little family. Fuyumi was dozing in the armchair next to Kyouya. She'd grown so fond of her brother's lover; she'd insisted on staying right by his bedside along with Kyouya, but Kaoru didn't know that yet. What were they all doing there?

"Nn… 'm awake." He tried to sit up, but Kyouya pushed him back down.

"Don't even think of trying to get up right now. Here, have some water." He put the cup to Kaoru's lips and the younger boy drank obediently. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he was until he'd poured the liquid down his throat. After taking a moment to gather his wits, he spoke.

"You look sleepy," the redhead said.

"I haven't slept yet." There were dark circles under Kyouya's eyes, and he was even paler than he usually was.

"What? What time is it?"

"Almost five."

"And you haven't slept yet?" The distress was evident in Kaoru's voice. "You can't be serious. You know that you're liable to kill people later?"

Kyouya chuckled humorlessly. "I'm liable to kill people later regardless of whether or not I sleep. But now that you're all right I might reduce it to just crippling them. Or taking a finger or two, yakuza-style."

"What… happened?" He put a hand to his forehead.

Kyouya spoke in nonchalant, conversational tones. "You shouldn't have a hangover. The intravenous fluids should have flushed the alcohol out of your system."

At the word hangover Kaoru cringed. "Ooh… okay, I think I'm starting to remember now…" The bar. Hikaru. That guy who'd hit on him. And that bottle of Bacardi… he looked nervously at his boyfriend. _Oops._

"I'm very angry at you right now, Kaoru."

"What about Hikaru?"

"I'm even angrier at him."

"No, I mean is he okay? Oh wait… you haven't done anything yet, have you? That's why you're planning on making him chop off his fingers as penance?"

"He let me punch him."

Kaoru cringed. "And he's in the morgue now?"

"I only punched him once."

"When's the funeral?"

"Kaoru…"

"Intensive care?" he tried again.

Kyouya's lips twitched slightly. "I held back, you foolish creature."

The golden-eyed boy looked at him warily. "Held back meaning he only half-died? How is that even possible? Like… is he a ghost now? Or you reanimated him, and he's a zombie doing your bidding?"

"A tempting proposition, but I haven't murdered him yet, so he's doing just fine. He and Tamaki are busy sorting out their issues in the next room." The Shadow King smoothed Kaoru's hair away from his forehead. "And they said that you were the smart one of the two of you. What kind of smart person downs an entire bottle of Bacardi 151?"

"What can I say? I'm a regular daredevil," Kaoru said.

Kyouya glowered at his dismissive attitude. "Left to ordinary people, you would probably have been allowed to 'sleep it off'. In which case you'd never have woken up. Do you know how much you scared me, Kaoru?"

Kaoru attempted a smile. "You're not scared of anything, sempai. You're practically Superman. By day striking fear into Hikaru's heart and making a profit off silly, spoiled girls, but take off the glasses and don a red cape and then you're off to save the world."

Then he saw the dead-serious look on the Shadow King's face and sighed. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to protect Hikaru. I know I told you I wouldn't do anything stupid… and I _knew _it was a really bad move. But I wanted to be able to do something for him. And come on, let's get real. If I had, I don't know, smashed the bottle, or thrown it away, he'd just be back the next day. Nothing would have changed. We wouldn't be here."

"You mean here, lying in bed after having your stomach pumped?" Kyouya demanded, anger finally seeping into his voice. "You wanted to do something, so you risked your life. How noble. No wonder so many heroes end up dead."

He cringed a little. It was the first time that his boyfriend had ever gotten so furious with him. At the flinch, he saw how Kyouya seemed to deflate a little.

"I apologize," the Shadow King murmured. "Don't look at me like that, Kaoru. Please. I'm not truly mad at you, and I was wrong to use that tone of voice. I was simply… afraid for you." _Terrified that you were going to die._ "You were imprudent, but I fell in love with that side of you along with all the rest. Forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive. You're right, it was stupid. But you know I would do almost anything for my twin," Kaoru murmured. He held back from using his patented Bambi eyes. It would have been unfair. He wouldn't use an advantage like that, knowing that even if his Bambi eyes worked on influencing Kyouya to give in to him, the Shadow King would dislike being manipulated. They were the Manipulative Pair, but they would never jerk each other around that way. Well, almost never. "Don't tell me that we didn't need something like this. Those two are so over-the-top that it would take nothing short of a veritable train wreck to fix the problem. You know that when we're dealing with larger-than-life things, we have to match that."

The Shadow King shook his head. "How far were you willing to go?"

Kaoru gave him a little smile and squeezed his hand. His lover looked absolutely _wrecked._ He bet that Kyouya had been up the whole time, haunting his bedside and resisting the urge to pass out.

"I'd give him anything… except you."

At that, the sophomore exhaled and relaxed, sighing at him. And Kaoru knew that it was okay. "Well… I know that this might encourage your terrible habit of doing such risky things, but it worked. So you can take comfort in that fact at least. But never again, understood?"

"I don't plan on doing that again. That stuff tasted bad anyway. Nothing like maple syrup," Kaoru snorted. He squeezed Kyouya's hand in reassurance. "You're not going to be able to get rid of me that easily… so what happened?"

"All's well," promised the Shadow King. "The trump card worked this time."

"I knew you could do it." Kaoru snuggled close to him. "Give me the full details later."

"Of course, Kaoru. It wouldn't be very fitting if one of the Manipulative Pair didn't know of the other's schemes, now would it? I've decided not to withhold any information that you ask of me within reason. Not after the last fiasco."

The redhead grinned. "Can we skip classes today?"

"You may." Kyouya checked his watch. He still had some time before he had to start getting ready for school. But if he slept now, he'd probably be unable to wake up on time.

"I said _we._ You look half-dead."

"I'm a demon from hell, Kaoru. I was part of the undead to begin with."

"Silly," scolded Kaoru, scrunching up his nose. "Hikaru says it so much that everyone's starting to believe it, even me! But come on, you need to rest. Just because you don't want a blemish on that perfect attendance record…"

"I can sleep in the infirmary later during the break," compromised Kyouya. He felt ready to drop on the spot.

"Can I sleep with you?"

The Shadow King grinned at their oft-repeated joke. "Rephrase that thought."

"Aww…" Kaoru started to pout.

Kyouya smirked as the other boy wound his arms around his neck. "Maybe, if you ask really nicely…"

"I'm always really nice," his boyfriend murmured, batting his eyelashes at him. "So do we go listen in on their tender conversation now?"

"But of course. You can watch the camera feed in my security room—no, don't try standing up. I'm carrying you."

"You think they'll be happy together?" Kaoru mused.

"They'd better be, after all that trouble." Kyouya lifted him up into his arms. The redhead muttered mutinously about the Shadow King's tiredness and how he was overexerting himself, but he knew quite well that the sophomore would never drop him. Ever. If by some freak accident it seemed that they were going to hit the ground for any reason—Kyouya's muscles suddenly giving, a missile suddenly hitting them (but that was ridiculous; Kyouya would never have offered to carry him if he thought that he couldn't handle his weight, and Kaoru suspected that his boyfriend would suddenly be able to shoot laser beams from his eyes if the least bit of danger approached his precious younger lover)—the Shadow King would undoubtedly maneuver their bodies so that Kaoru wouldn't get hurt at all.

"But just imagine what the world will be like from now on… lots of little Tamakis and Hikarus running around…" A soft smile settled over his exhausted features as he kissed the top of the freshman's head. "Kaoru…"

"Mm?"

"Thank you." _For not dying._ The aureate-eyed boy smiled, knowing what he was thinking, and buried his face in his sempai's neck.

* * *

Tamaki became aware that, as Hikaru caught his breath from the blow Kyouya had landed (well, he _had _tried to stop him from offering himself as a target dummy), the redhead's eyes were completely fixed on him. "Hikaru?" he inquired.

"This is real, right?" The freshman sat back on the pale blue couch. At the quizzical look he got in answer, he explained. "I mean… this isn't some kind of stupid dream, or one of those horrible gag shows where I'm about to find out that that wasn't really the Chairman and your grandmother but really actors, that doctor was in on the joke, Kaoru drank cranberry juice instead of rum and you're all about to have a good laugh at my expense…"

"I know what you mean," the blonde murmured. "It's almost too perfectly in place to be true." He reached out and pulled his no-longer-ex-boyfriend into his arms and squeezing him tight. "But it is."

"_Ow_."

Tamaki winced and eased up on his grip immediately, but didn't let him go. "Sorry. But I'm here, Hikaru. Don't I feel real?"

Hikaru snorted. "Hardly. You're the one who makes me believe in stuff like aliens and fairies. How can someone who defies the very laws of reality ask me that question? It's just weird."

Tamaki leaned in and kissed him. "Was that real?"

He blushed. "Nn… maybe."

Emboldened by the warmth suffusing the other boy's face, he teased, "Do I need to give a repeat performance to get you to make up your mind?"

Hikaru pulled the blonde's head down himself so that their mouths met. When they both came up for air, he looked up at Tamaki. "I just wanted to be sure, because if I found out that it was nothing but a joke, I'd go insane. I'm not losing you again."

"I think I know what you mean," Tamaki murmured. "All that playing at romance in the club never prepared me for something like this. Having you again is like coming home."

Hikaru felt himself flush even harder. "Well, of course they had to accept me eventually," he said in his best pompous tones. "How could they reject someone as hot as me? It's in the Hitachiin family code of conduct… Hitachiins are either worshipped or hated for their awesomeness, but all will, in the end, kiss our pretty feet."

"You know, someday I want to see a copy of that Hitachiin family code of conduct…"

"It actually does exist," Hikaru said, completely serious. "Right now I think Kaoru has it. He's tried to pass a few amendments, but mom stopped him from enforcing that 'big brothers are not allowed to butt in on makeout sessions with Shadow Kings' rule. She said it was too funny when I ranted… whatever that means. But only Hitachiins and honorary Hitachiins are allowed to see the code of conduct."

Tamaki smiled. "Doesn't being your boyfriend count as being an honorary Hitachiin?"

"Nah. There are a whole set of rules to being an honorary Hitachiin. You can either marry one of us, or you can cover yourself in honey and go on a jungle expedition for five months with no equipment and food and you're not allowed to wash off the honey. If you come back without a scratch on you, you're either accepted as an honorary Hitachiin or flogged six ways from Tuesday for cheating."

"I'm marrying you someday," the blonde said. "So better get ready to show it to me."

Hikaru opened his mouth, then closed it, his cheeks blooming beautifully with heat. He was tempted to say things so horrendously gooey he would have put Hunny's cakes to shame. Instead, he settled for a snort and a shrug as he said, "Huh. Sounds like what some swindler would say to a naïve girl before taking her virtue."

"I'll be taking that, too, someday," Tamaki said firmly. "Anyone else who tries…"

"Will get overwhelmed by your impossible blonde powers?"

Tamaki smirked. "I'm sure I could get Kyouya to teach me a few pest control tricks."

The younger boy shuddered at the unexpected darkness in his boyfriend's tone. Being evil… was kind of _hot _on Tamaki. "God. You're channeling the Shadow King. You're under his demon thrall now. I'd better go schedule an exorcism."

"The only thrall I'm under is _yours_."

"Get used to it," he sniped, as he squeezed Tamaki's hand. "You won't be able to get rid of me even if you try. Now you're going to have to take me out for that pistachio crap again."

"Of course."

"We should repeat our last date. This time without me having to know that the whole time you were thinking about leaving me."

"That sounds perfect."

"And we'll go do some proper stargazing… somewhere where you can really see the night sky, not like here in the city where there's fog and lights and stuff."

"Anything you want."

The Hitachiin raised an eyebrow. "If I asked you to shave your head, would you do it?"

"Would you still date me if I had a shaved head?"

He tapped his lower lip, considering. "Hmm… no. Though now that I think about it, there are some pretty realistic-looking wigs on the market… but no."

Tamaki grinned. "I love you, Hikaru."

The redhead blushed. "I… uh… I lo… me too?" he meekly offered, unable to get the complete words out properly.

"Hmm." The blonde knew that his lover had problems with the 'dreaded L word'. "What if I said that I don't want to be your boyfriend until you tell me those three little words?"

"You wouldn't," Hikaru gasped, eyes narrowing.

Well, of course he wouldn't, but he couldn't resist teasing him a little. It was so lovely to make Hikaru flush, whether it was out of anger or embarrassment. The color in his cheeks just made him even more attractive. "Wouldn't I?"

"Three little words, huh? How about 'Let's break up'?" the younger boy tossed at him.

"How about, 'over my dead body'?" replied Tamaki.

"That's four words."

"I know."

"Hooray, you can count. What a revelation. Next thing you know, you'll be doing the multiplication tables."

Hikaru was thinking even as he bantered. He really did love Tamaki, but he still struggled to shape the words. "I… uh…" His cheeks burned. _God._ This was even more nerve-wracking than the earlier showdown with Shizue and Yuzuru. "Milord… Rene… I…"

He bit his lip, until he realized that the blonde's eyes were dancing with mirth. He growled with frustration and yanked his boyfriend towards him. "Three little words, Rene… how about 'kiss me _now_'?"

"That works too," Tamaki agreed before breathlessly allowing himself to be pulled in for a kiss.

When they came up for air, he frowned. "But maybe I can convince you to say the other ones I want to hear…"

"And how do you plan to do—_mmm_."

A good three minutes later, Hikaru glared at him. "That… was cheating," he murmured through swollen lips.

"Want to say it?"

"I want to…" The redhead did. He just wasn't sure he _could_. "Milord… I… um… I… lo… lo… oh, damn this, I'll say it when I'm ready and not before!" He looked fearfully up at his boyfriend, wondering if he had hurt the half-French boy with his refusal to say it. To his surprise, there was an expression of complete understanding on Tamaki's face.

Hikaru looked away. "Just because I don't say it doesn't mean I don't feel it, okay?"

"I know," Tamaki said, stroking his hair. "I'll be waiting, but there's no pressure on you. I won't hate you even if you never tell me out loud. We're not going to be a couple that has to declare their undying affection every single waking moment of the day. I already know how you feel. You know how I feel. I have you, and that's enough. And," he added lightly, trying to dispel the worry in the younger boy's face, "I can always try to motivate you to say it…"

The redhead smiled impishly at him. "Is that so?" he purred teasingly.

"We'll work on it," the Host Club King promised with a grin.

* * *

A/N: And there we go. Epilogue soon! Have a great love month, everybody~


	10. Epilogue: Tomorrow And Forever

A/N: Welcome to the absolute end, everybody. Or at least until I write some sequel (maybe). It's the 6th of March; exactly one year ago on this day I posted the prologue to NaF, so it seemed only fitting that I get this up today. It's also my birthday month, and one of the most hectic months of the year for me in terms of schoolwork.

This is for my lovely reviewers from the last chapter: Full-Empty-Spirit, I. AM .NOT. A. DOG, chobncheese, Stupid Cow, Always A Bookworm, pi-or-pie, Jillkun-ness, Angel015, porcelainanimals, Skylark555, Rouge, xRosePetalx, and Flacks. You are all unique and beautiful snowflakes.

This is also for all the guys out there who are into guys, because they so often have to deal with so much crap.

And for my wonderful panda. :) You are stars and moon and sunshine.

Again, quite rushed, but I hope it was still okay.

Edit 07 Mar 2010 7:09 pm: Thanks for pointing out my twin mistake, Skylark555! Those dang Hitachiin twins are so easy to mix up. :)

* * *

Epilogue: Tomorrow and Forever

"I'll see you later at lunch, okay?" Tamaki said as he and Hikaru stopped at the corner right before the freshman's classroom. Kaoru and Kyouya had already gone ahead, leaving them to have a last-minute conversation. It was their first day as an 'official couple' (for the second time), and neither could stop smiling. Well, Hikaru tried, but the scowl always seemed to melt into a silly grin.

The rest of the Host Club had teased them mercilessly during breakfast and on the ride to school—except for Kyouya; he was too busy walking around in a zombie-like, sleep-deprived state. No one except Kaoru had dared to talk to him. Even Fuyumi had stayed quiet and refrained from forcing him to eat something doused in syrup for breakfast.

"Okay. Don't you dare cheat on me while I'm gone," the redhead teased.

"Hmm. What would happen if I do?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I can get my chainsaw back from that old bat of an English teacher. Huh… now that I think about it, maybe I should hook her up with the Shadow King. They seem like they'd get along," he snorted. "Come on, we've got ten minutes before class time and I want to get in my seat. Remember, we're supposed to be staying low-key this time—"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA! IT'S THEM! IT'S THEM!"

The two hosts turned around to see a fangirl tsunami coming their way at top speed. Tamaki quickly yanked Hikaru behind him as they were surrounded by a mass of squealing customers. Passing students who weren't patrons of the Host Club continued going about their daily activities, having long since learned that it never paid to get sucked into whatever insanity their rabid fangirls were screaming about.

"We're so happy that you two are together again!" one of them squealed. "Tamaki-sama, Hikaru-kun, congratulations!"

"And the circumstances were _so _romantic," sighed another. "A duel to the death with parents opposed to the match… it's just like Romeo and Juliet!"

Hikaru twitched. "Now, who exactly are you referring to as 'Juliet'? It better not be me." But of course, they all ignored him.

Tamaki frowned. "How did you all find out? We only got back together last night. And I wouldn't call it a duel to the death…"

"OHOHOHOHO!"

"Oh no," Hikaru mumbled at the sound of the evil laugh piercing the air. "Not this. Anything but this."

"And hello to you too, Hikaru-kun," Renge said, as she appeared atop a platform spiraling out of the floor.

"Why the hell does your dad allow her to do that?" the Hitachiin asked Tamaki.

"He probably thinks it's funny," the Host King replied, shaking his head.

"Shut up, both of you," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I may like you two together, but you still get on my nerves." At the click of a button on a remote control she was holding, a small television spiraled out of the ground on another platform.

"What, we don't get the giant one that you used for Kaoru and the piranha?"

"You said you wanted to keep it low-key," she answered tartly. "Be thankful."

"How did she hear that?" Tamaki wondered. Suddenly he realized that his father would also probably find it funny to allow her to put bugs everywhere. But surely even he wouldn't go that far to indulge the crazy otaku…

Then the television flickered to life and he was snapped out of his thoughts as his onscreen self leaned in and kissed the onscreen Hikaru. _"Was that real?_"

"Oh dear God, he didn't," Tamaki whimpered, suddenly fearing the potential fangirl explosion.

"_Nn… maybe,_" whispered the onscreen Hikaru, cheeks aflame. The real-life Hikaru was flushed too… but with anger or embarrassment, he wasn't sure.

"_Do I need to give a repeat performance to get you to make up your mind?"_

"I'm going to kill him," the freshman declared, eyes narrowing. He made a small noise in the back of his throat as his video-self grabbed Tamaki and kissed him hard. _"I just wanted to be sure, because if I found out that it was nothing but a joke… I'd go insane. I'm not losing you again!"_

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The customers squealed and applauded as the screen mercifully went black. Soon they were surrounded by crazy girls rushing to 'hug them in congratulations' (or tear off bits of their clothing, apparently).

"LADIES!" Tamaki shouted, pulling Hikaru away from some of the more enthusiastic, grabby girls. His lover had come out much the worse for the wear, with only a single sleeve of his jacket remaining. Great. "Please, enough. We have class."

Hikaru was spitting out swear words that would have made a sailor cringe."When I get my hands on that voyeuristic, perverted bat out of hell, I'm going to behead him. That's the way to kill a vampire, right? Or a stake through the heart?"

"That would kill anybody, Hikaru-kun, not just vampires," Renge said, rolling her eyes. "But you seem to be under the illusion that Kyouya-sama sent me this footage. You're wrong."

"Oh? That was _his _room, and probably _his _security cameras," he hissed. "How the hell can you stand there telling me I'm wrong?"

"Because you are, not that that's such a surprise. You almost always are," she replied calmly. "He may have supplied them with the footage, but I don't think he sent it himself. Unless he's been cheating on Kaoru-kun with someone other than the idiot lord."

"Milord's not hooking up with the bat, not now, not ever," he retorted. _He's mine_.

"Here," she said, handing the two of them a picture. "It came attached to the footage. I think you should understand who sent the video to me if you read the message."

It was a photo of Tamaki and Hikaru, their faces comically surprised. The expressions were absolutely priceless. Scribbled on the back of the photo were two messages in two different styles of handwriting. Once he read them he knew exactly who'd sent it… and knew that he'd be the one apologizing, not them. They'd probably gotten all their annoyance out their systems with this one, but he _really _didn't want to risk otherwise.

_Having a stuffed bunny doesn't mean I just wandered out of the playpen, Hika-chan! But if you really want to know how grown-up someone with an Usa-chan can be, let me know and we can talk it over… in the dojo._

_Haruhi looks good in every color. And no, she doesn't want it that bad.

* * *

_

"Right, so the idiot lord and evil doppelganger number one have been sent off on a wild goose chase by some of our heroic volunteers," Renge said, rapping her knuckles on a temporary lectern that had been set up in the club room. The customers and the rest of the Host Club were all sitting in their usual places. "That gives us about twenty minutes to get the betting pool in order. Any new bets?"

"Fifty thousand yen on Hikaru-kun hitting Tamaki-sama at least five times today."

"Twenty thousand yen on Tamaki-san declaring today to be an anniversary of some sort," called out one girl, much to the laughter of the others. Tamaki had taken to calling everything an anniversary: an anniversary of the day they'd first met, the five-month anniversary of their first kiss, the two-week anniversary of the first time Hikaru had let him spoon-feed him…

Actually, Haruhi had managed to get quite a profit for that spoon-feeding incident. She'd had a couple of extra yen in her pocket and, on a whim, placed it on what almost everyone had called a fool's bet, only to get more than ten times her initial wager when the redhead had, mysteriously, allowed Tamaki to feed him a bite of cake in the cafeteria.

"Thirty thousand yen on them being caught kissing in the infirmary."

Renge consulted her calendar. "It's the second Friday of the month. That's a given." She rolled her eyes. "All your bets are too safe! The returns on those will be tiny; maybe one or two yen, five at most. They're hardly even bets anymore, since you all know that they're going to come true."

Kaoru looked up from where he was playing poker with Kyouya. The girls loved to watch them play, since the two of them staked kisses instead of chips. No one really lost in their card games. "I'll bet five hundred thousand yen on my twin revisiting the bar he used to frequent, and milord will try to talk him out of it. There, my idiot brother will probably be accosted by that guy he used to dance with, and milord will have a fit of jealousy. I'd say this'll all happen… oh, this Saturday."

Kyouya laid down his hand—a royal flush. "Pay up, Kaoru," he murmured, and the redhead gladly supplied him with his winnings. "Put me down for a bet of one million yen on Tamaki coming back on Sunday to the bar to meet with Hikaru's old friend and apologize to him. Said friend will try to hit on Tamaki… and of course Hikaru will arrive just in time to see them. Hmm. I think I'll add in the two of them 'making up' in their parking lot outside the bar."

"Thank you, now I know where my camera and I will be this weekend," Renge said, recording to their fresh wagers. "You two sure love to take risks, don't you? How can you be sure those things will happen?"

"Please, you're talking to the Shadow King here," Kaoru snorted as he dealt out fresh hands. "And come on, Renge. We've never been wrong yet."

"Kyou-chan and Kao-chan should be banned from betting," Hunny said with a grin, not really serious. "The pool will run dry if they keep on getting it right."

"Not like it's that much of a problem," Kaoru said with a shrug. "We've got an almost never-ending supply of money from the greatest bet of them all."

They all laughed. "Yes, which brings us to the usual… the big question of 'When will Hikaru-kun tell the idiot lord that he loves him?'. All the previous bets, except Kaoru-kun's outstanding one, have failed."

The girls groaned. "Hikaru-kun is so stubborn!" wailed one of them. "I must have lost about two million yen the last few months." Of course, that was all pocket change to them, but still. They were all dying to see the redhead cave.

"I think I'll put a wager down for… on their anniversary, which Tamaki-kun will probably make a huge production of," proposed a junior. "Fifty thousand yen."

"Three weeks from now," said another girl. "I think Hikaru-kun's starting to cave, if the spoon-feeding incident indicates anything. Um… twenty-five thousand yen."

"A hundred thousand yen on him saying it while they're making up in the parking lot this weekend," proposed one more.

Mori shook his head. "You're going to lose your money, Chiyo-san."

She frowned. Damn. If Mori said so, it was probably true. The senior had never posted any bets himself, but his predictions—when he deigned to make them, which wasn't often—were infallible. "Why not?"

Hunny grinned. "Their mouths will be otherwise occupied, Chi-chan! They won't have time to say 'I love you'."

"Sorry, all bets, once made, can't be taken back," Renge said with a shrug. "Better luck next time. But now I know that I'd better recharge my camera's batteries… and maybe bring spares. How about anything closer to the present? Say… today? Tomorrow?"

They all burst out laughing. "We all know better than that," Haruhi said, shaking her head. "Honestly."

Kyouya smirked. "If you like, I could make Hikaru say it today…."

They all shivered. They had no doubt that the Shadow King could easily manipulate the Hitachiin into it somehow.

"No!" Kaoru complained, smacking his boyfriend lightly on the arm. "You want me to lose my bet? It's still standing, remember?"

"Oh yes," the sophomore said, smiling. "I'll hold off for now, then. But if you change your mind I can speed up the process."

"Kao-chan, you said Hika-chan would admit it when he's _seventy_," Hunny pointed out.

The younger boy smirked. "Like I said, sempai, we haven't been wrong yet…"

* * *

The girls watched Tamaki and Hikaru horsing around; the redhead was making the other boy carry him piggyback style around the club room as a punishment for losing to him in poker (unlike Kyouya and Kaoru, they didn't play for kisses; after the incident with the pink feather boa, hadn't Tamaki learned his lesson about gambling with Hikaru yet?). "You know, there's something bothering me," one of the girls began, setting down her cup of tea.

"What is it, Ayako-san?" asked Kaoru. He particularly liked this customer, mostly because she had a good sense of style. The two of them actually compared fashion notes sometimes. She'd been one of the first who'd congratulated him on his relationship with Kyouya.

"Well… between Hikaru-kun and Tamaki-san, who's the seme?"

Hikaru looked up from his comfortable perch. "Me, of course."

Everybody paused.

"Tamaki," answered Kaoru.

"Tamaki," said Kyouya.

"Tama-chan, definitely," agreed Hunny.

Haruhi tapped on her chin. "Tamaki-sempai."

Mori nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Ayako-san said. "Even if Hikaru-kun is always so adamant about being the seme."

"WHAT?" Hikaru exploded. "What the heck are you guys on?"

"Sorry, brother," Kaoru said with a shrug. "But it's kind of a given. I thought everyone realized it. You're… well, you're a _tsundere _type, I guess."

The older Hitachiin stared at him, nonplussed. "No. No. This… this is messing up my entire world. Not happening. This is Renge wearing Kaoru's skin, isn't it?"

Kaoru grinned sheepishly. "Well, okay, so she did lend me some of her manga. She said it would make for good references for…" He trailed off. The girls burst into floods of giggles, knowing exactly what Kaoru had read them for.

"And you actually read them?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious that sempai would end up being the seme," said Haruhi. "I mean, Hikaru is so far in denial about his feelings that it's kind of sad."

"And you need far too much rescuing to ever be considered a seme, Hikaru," added Kyouya. 'Your little scene at the bar? Very immature."

Renge giggled. "Manly brooding is acceptable, Hikaru-kun, as what Tamaki-sempai did… but going off to get drunk so you can forget him? It's so obvious that you were only looking for his attention!"

"I was not!" he protested. He glared down at Tamaki, who was still carrying him. "You! You don't think I'm the uke, do you?"

Kaoru grinned. "Oh, this is going to be _good_."

"W-well…" Tamaki hesitated. Actually, after everything, he _could _say that it still didn't matter to him either way. As long as Hikaru was with him, he was happy. But the truth was that he'd much rather push Hikaru down and watch the boy's gorgeous reactions…

"What's with that long pause?" Hikaru pulled on his ears. "I'm not the uke! I mean, look at you! You're a crybaby!"

"Said the guy who burst into tears in front of everyone here," muttered another girl.

Renge shook her head. "You're missing the point, Hikaru. There's a pyramid of ukeness."

"…what?"

"Normally Tamaki-sempai would be an uke, but you just happen to be more uke than he is."

"_Excuse me?_"

She shrugged. "Kyouya-sama is probably at the very top, along with Mori-sempai. If the two of them ever got together, now _that _would be a fight for domination." Her eyes sparkled as she turned to the two dark-haired club members. "I don't suppose you two…"

"No thanks," they answered simultaneously.

"No offense, sempai," Kyouya added.

"None taken," Mori agreed. "No offense meant either."

"Then come Kaoru-kun and Haruhi-kun… I find Hunny-sempai unclassifiable," she murmured, tapping her chin. "Hunny-sempai's a bit of a wild card. I get the feeling that he'd actually come before Kaoru-kun and Haruhi-kun, if we give him a chance to unleash a darker side."

"Wait, why are Kaoru and Haruhi next on the list? I mean, Kaoru… Kaoru shines his shoes regularly!"

Kaoru snorted. "…and that has to do with my ukeness _how_?"

"Kaoru-kun is quite a trickster, of sorts… he could manipulate almost anyone. Except perhaps Kyouya-sama and the seniors. And Haruhi-kun is so…"

"...thick-skinned?" supplied one girl, giggling.

"Something like that. He has good defenses and ignores most things." Renge grinned. "Then it's Tamaki-sempai, then you. You're on the very bottom."

Hikaru was turning pink. "I—I am not—"

"So no matter who you hooked up with in the club, you'd be the subservient one. Unless of course they decided to take pity on you and allow you to top just to keep you from whining."

The Hitachiin was quiet for a second before he disengaged his arms from around his boyfriend's neck and jumped to his feet. "Hi-Hikaru?" ventured Tamaki.

"THAT IS IT! WE'RE BREAKING UP!" And with that, Hikaru stomped off.

"Typical uke reaction," giggled Renge, sending the other girls into twitters of delight.

"He doesn't really mean it, milord," Kaoru said quickly. "But just to be sure, you ought to go and run after the stupid—"

"He already left," Mori interjected, as the younger boy realized that he'd been speaking to empty air for the last few seconds.

"HIKARU! WAIT FOR ME! I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I SWEAR!" They heard Tamaki's voice echo down the halls, causing a few to wince and cover their ears.

"SHUT UP! HALF OF TOKYO CAN HEAR YOU, IDIOT!" The twin roared back—not that his decibel level was any lower.

"BUT I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!"

"Match made in heaven," Kaoru snorted, as he settled himself back against Kyouya's arm. And once again, all was well.

* * *

A/N: And there we go. This fic was both very fun and frustrating to write. My head's bursting with ideas for future multichapters and oneshots already (aside from fulfilling quite a few of the fanfic requests I have on my profile page, what do you guys say to a MorixKyouya?), but I'm loath to leave NaF behind so readily. Have a beautiful March, everyone!


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